The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has suspended Lagos-based lawyer, Jonathan Chinedu Nwagwu, Esq., from practice for three years. The decision, delivered on April 24, 2024, followed findings of professional misconduct, including the misappropriation of over ₦2.4 million in client and chambers funds, as well as allegations of forgery and negligence.
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The suspension was announced in Complaint No. BB/LPDC/360/2020, filed by Capt. Dada Olaniyi Labinjo, Managing Partner of Marina Law Chambers, against Nwagwu, who served as Head of Chambers during Labinjo’s detention by the Nigerian Navy in 2018. The case, which dragged on for over three years amid procedural delays and health issues affecting the applicant’s counsel, highlights a bitter fallout between former colleagues turned adversaries.
The saga began in September 2018, when Capt. Labinjo and his wife, Mrs. Bola Labinjo, the Executive Director (Finance and Admin) of Marina Law Chambers, were arrested by the Nigerian Navy on charges related to oil bunkering. Detained in solitary cells at the Directorate of Internal Administration (DIA) in Abuja, the couple was held incommunicado until their release on August 3 and December 2, 2019, respectively.
During this period, Nwagwu, enrolled with the Supreme Court of Nigeria under No. SCN052392, was entrusted with managing the firm’s affairs. Labinjo alleged that Nwagwu exploited this vulnerability to siphon funds from a ₦25,856,000 judgment debt recovered in a client matter. Specifically, Nwagwu was accused of diverting ₦1,947,043.70 and ₦500,000 from the proceeds, which were paid into his personal GTBank account instead of the firm’s.
In his complaint filed on November 26, 2020, through Chukwudi Nwadike, Esq., Labinjo described the acts as “infamous conduct in a professional respect,” including conversion of chambers funds, forgery of his signature on court documents, and misrepresentation to the court. The funds, Labinjo claimed, were meant for settling 100% of crew salaries due and 50% of the master’s disbursement in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1139/2009 – Energy Culture Nigeria Ltd. vs. Belfor Nigeria Ltd. & Ors., a high-stakes case involving a shipping dispute.
Nwagwu, in his affidavit of defence dated February 8, 2021 (filed out of time but granted leave on July 14, 2021), admitted receiving the judgment sum but described the diversions as an emergency loan ratified by Labinjo. He claimed the funds were used for personal exigencies, including overdue rent, medical and burial expenses for a deceased uncle, and family issues worsened by the couple’s detention and the firm’s instability.
“I borrowed from the chambers as an IOU in order to resolve urgent and unforeseen personal and family issues,” Nwagwu stated, insisting that he rendered accounts via Excel sheets and WhatsApp messages to Mrs. Bola Labinjo. He denied forgery, arguing that he merely endorsed the Terms of Settlement as counsel for the 1st–4th Defendants, and that blank signature spaces were filled in later without his involvement.
Nwagwu further alleged that he received indirect instructions from Labinjo through intermediaries such as Mr. Luben Gogo and Apostle Akpos Biki—fellow detainees—to “run the chambers as [his] own” and keep it afloat. He countered the forgery claims by noting that the suit’s settlement occurred amicably between October 15 and December 10, 2018, with meetings involving other parties’ counsel, and that he raised no objections upon seeing the filed terms since they reflected earlier discussions.
In a counter-affidavit and reply dated March 4, 2021, Labinjo dismissed these claims as fabrications. He noted that Nwagwu never provided documentary proof of the alleged loan, failed to attend two key meetings in December 2019 to account for expenditures, and ignored queries about the missing funds. Labinjo also refuted any instruction to compromise the suit, emphasizing an express directive not to settle without his approval.
After a de novo hearing from September 2023 to February 2024 restarted due to the committee’s reconstitution the LPDC, chaired by Ahmed Mustapha-Goni, Esq. (Life Bencher), with members including Hon. Justice Aisha Bashir Aliyu (CJ, Nasarawa) and Hon. Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik (CJ, Niger), delivered a scathing verdict.
The panel found Nwagwu guilty of breaching Rules 1 (general responsibility to the court and client), 14(1), (3), (5) (handling client funds), and 23(1) & (2) (full disclosure and candour toward the tribunal) of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007. These violations, punishable under Section 12(1) of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11 LFN 2004, were deemed “despicable and morally reprehensible.”
Key evidence included bank transfer advices showing the diversion of funds, lack of repayment proof, and Nwagwu’s unauthorized endorsement of the Terms of Settlement while knowing that Labinjo was detained and unable to approve it. The committee rejected his “loan” narrative, noting that no prior agreement or ratification existed, and that his post-release meetings with Labinjo yielded neither resolution nor refunds.
“The Respondent’s actions amounted to fraud and betrayal of professional trust,” the direction stated, ordering Nwagwu to refund the full ₦2,447,043.70 within 28 days under Section 12(9) of the Act.
Jonathan Chinedu Nwagwu, Esq.Effective immediately, Nwagwu is barred from all legal practice, including holding himself out as a lawyer. The Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court is to annotate his name on the Roll of Legal Practitioners, with the order circulated to the NBA President, Chief Justice of Nigeria, all Heads of Courts, Attorneys-General, and relevant police authorities nationwide. Publication in The Punch newspaper and the Federal Government Gazette will ensure public notice.
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