Lawyer in Ecobank’s tango with Honeywell, Ogunba got back rank of SAN in 2018

Kunle Ogunba, counsel to Ecobank in the dispute between it and Honeywell had his rank of senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) restored in 2018 after a review of his case by the Legal Practitioners Committee which had earlier indicted him for misconduct as reported by BusinessDay on December 20, 2021.

On January 11, 2018, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) sanctioned Ogunba for professional misconduct in relation to his handling of the court cases, withdrawing from him the rank of SAN and all other privileges attached to the rank.

However, BusinessDay is now in receipt of a September 20, 2018 letter by the LPPC titled, “Kunle Ogunba SAN: Notice of restoration of the award of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria on your person with all its privileges” and in which the restoration of the rank was conveyed.

According to Hadizatu Uwani Mustapha, chief registrar of the Supreme Court and secretary of the LPPC, “further to your letter of September 11, 2018, in which you presented to the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee attached documents in compliance to the conditions laid down in paragraph 27 of legal practitioners privileges committee guidelines 2018.

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“The committee after a careful consideration of the letter and the accompanying documents, found the character references to be valid and the applications for review granted.”

The letter to Ogunba also said, “You are hereby advised to conduct your case (s) in the best tradition of the legal profession, uphold the honour and dignity which the rank of senior advocate of Nigeria commands.”

The matter began on April 7, 2016, via a five-page petition addressed to the chairman of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee also known as the Body of Benchers, Honeywell alleges serious misconduct against Ogunba and noted in particular “abuse of court process.”

In the petition, the petitioner had said, “We believe that the actions of Mr. Ogunba are in complete disregard of the rule of law and an abuse of court process. As set out above, Mr. Ogunba on behalf of Ecobank deliberately instituted a multiplicity of actions on the same dispute, facts, grounds and between the same parties.”