Akeem Nafiu Ms Adekunbi Ogunde, a partner in the law firm of Wole Olanipekun & Co. accused of violating the rule of practice by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) yesterday took a leave of absence from legal practice. Ogunde on June 20 solicited a brief from SAIPEM Contracting Nigeria Ltd, which had already engaged the law firm of Henry Ajumogobia (SAN).
This led to the NBA’s call for disciplinary action against her by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC). In a statement entitled ‘My email correspondence of June 20, 2022, and subsequent events’ she signed yesterday, Ogunde regretted the distress her action had caused all concerned parties.
She said contrary to some people’s beliefs, the firm had taken disciplinary action against her. She also expressed regret that her statement of June 27, where she owned up and clarified that the firm’s founding partner, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), and others didn’t know about her action failed to ease tensions.