May 22, 2015 : Ade Adesomoju
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Kunle Kalejaye
The Legal Practitioners
Disciplinary Committee has expelled a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief
Kunle Kalejaye, from further practising as a lawyer.
The LPDC disbarred Kalejaye after
finding him guilty of professional misconduct. A five-man panel of the
LPDC, led by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab
Bulkachuwa, conducted the investigation.
The LPDC found Kalejaye guilty of
misconduct while representing the Peoples Democratic Party and its then
candidate, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, at the Osun State Governorship
Election Petition Tribunal, where Oyinlola’s victory in the 2007 poll
was being challenged by the then candidate of the Action Congress of
Nigeria, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.
Kalejaye was said to have engaged in a
“confidential, private and confidential telephone conversation” with the
Chairman of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal,
Justice Thomas Naron, without the knowledge of the other party.
He allegedly engaged in the
unprofessional act between March and June 2008 and the Justice Naron
with whom he committed the misconduct had since February 20, 2013 been
compulsorily retired by the National Judicial Council.
The Presiding Justice of the Court of
Appeal, Ekiti Division, Justice Paul Galinje, who read the directive
(judgment of the LPDC), held that the prosecution, the Nigerian Bar
Association, proved its three count complaints against Kalejaye.
The NBA was represented by Jibrin Okutepa (SAN).
He held that Kalejaiye violated the
provisions of sections 1, 15, 30, 31, 34 and 55 of the Rules of
Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (2007).
The panel directed the Chief Registrar
of the Supreme Court to delete his name from the roll (list) of legal
practitioners in the country.
The committee also directed that its
decision should be served on the President of the Nigerian Bar
Association, the Chief Judges of all the states of the federation, the
Chief Judge of Federal High Court, Chief Judge of the High Court of the
Federal Capital Territory, the Inspector General of Police and all the
states’ Commissioners of Police.
It also directed that the decision be published in the media.
Kalejaiye’s lawyer, Niyi Owolade, a former Attorney General of Osun State, had objected to the LPDC’s decision.
He said his client was about filing his appeal at the Supreme Court.
Under the Legal Practitioners Act, Kalejaiye has up to 28 days to appeal the decision, failing which it will become effective.
Kalejaiye represented the PDP and
Oyinlola at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which heard the
petition by the ACN and its candidate in the 2007 governorship election,
Aregbesola.
The LPDC rejected Kalejaiye’s defence to the effect that his telephone number was cloned.
The committee held that while Kalejaye
was able to show, by expert evidence, that spoofing as a general
phenomenon was possible, he failed to show that spoofing was possible on
the MTN network which owned the lines with which Kalejaiye and Naron
communicated.
He was said to have only demonstrated such possibility with Etisalat and Glo networks.
The committee also faulted Kalejaiye’s
documentary evidence, mostly newspaper publications (including
advertorial sponsored by Kalejaiye), faulting the authenticity of the
call log from MTN.
The committee said it would have been
more helpful had Kalejaiye applied and got his call log from MTN to
prove that the one tendered by the prosecution was not the actual one.
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