The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN, has threatened to initiate disciplinary action against the NBA SPIDEL Chairman, John Aikpokpo-Martins, before the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for allegedly obtaining money under false pretense.
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In a letter dated March 7, 2024, sighted by TheNigerialawyer, Maikyau accused Aikpokpo-Martins of demanding and collecting money from the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Justice, to cover his expenses for a meeting of the General Council of the Bar (GCB) he attended on November 29, 2023. The demand was allegedly made under the pretext that the NBA President had communicated the Association’s inability to fund the traveling and accommodation expenses of NBA representatives.
However, representatives of the NBA in the GCB had earlier addressed this issue in their letters to the Annual General Meeting and the Board of Trustees, dated March 9, 2024. In the letter, they accused the NBA President of lying, stating that Maikyau had bluntly informed them that the NBA would not be responsible for their logistics.
The representatives claimed that there was clear evidence of the President’s refusal to bear the travel expenses of GCB members, as he had only refunded travel expenses once out of the three meetings held since the Council’s inauguration. They alleged that during a courtesy visit to the NBA President’s office after the inaugural meeting, Maikyau had categorically stated that the NBA would not be responsible for the expenses of GCB members, as they were members of a different statutory body who should cater to their own logistics.
In his letter to Aikpokpo-Martins, Maikyau maintained that there was no such communication to the Representatives of the NBA in the General Council of the Bar regarding the NBA’s inability to fund travel and accommodation expenses. He stated that as a practice, the NBA pays for or refunds such expenses whenever incurred during an approved assignment, upon a demand made through the established payment process within the NBA.
Maikyau provided evidence of payments made to Aikpokpo-Martins and other members of the GCB for travel expenses for the inaugural meeting on January 9, 2023, and proceedings at the LPDC in the matter between the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA and Adekunbi Ogunde.
The NBA President described Aikpokpo-Martins’ conduct as unethical, unprofessional, and unbecoming of a legal practitioner, constituting gross misconduct. He directed the SPIDEL Chairman to refund all monies collected from the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation within seven days, failing which he would commence disciplinary action against him before the LPDC without further notice.
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