The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, has rejected a motion to withdraw a petition against Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, SAN and two other lawyers, Barrister Smart Ukpanah and Barrister Hope Onyekwere.
At the sitting of the panel of the LPDC, chaired by Mr Kalu Umeh, SAN, counsel to Ezechukwu, Barrister D. O. Okolo, asked the court to strike out the petition, on the ground that the petitioner, Kingsley Aneubuna, had decided to withdraw the petition.
The petitioner had written a letter to the committee that he had decided to withdraw the petition, he said. Specifically, the petitioner did not attend the sitting and he requested the committee to dismiss the petition.
The petitioner then wrote to the committee stating that the petition was to be withdrawn. “The petitioner is well aware of the proceedings but is not before the panel,” he said.
But the panel rejected the request in its reply saying that the LPDC does not allow withdrawal of petitions already before it.
The panel said once issues have been joined, petitions can no longer be withdrawn.
The matter was adjourned for final hearing to July 29, 2026.
The petition was instigated by a property dispute between Ngozika Nwaneri and Uche Okoli and his company, Multishelters Limited who are claimants in suit No. FCT/HC/CV/1182/2018 – Uche Okoli & Ors V EFCC & Ors.
The subject matter of the suit is the dispute over Plot No. 713, Cadastral Zone B14, Dutse District, Abuja, where the SAN’s (1st Respondent) clients, Uche Okoli/Multishelters Ltd and one Dr. Ngozika Nwaneri are claiming title to the land.
The petitioner was allegedly offered a terrace duplex on the disputed land in 2018 by Mr. Uche Okoli and Multishelters Ltd who are clients of the SAN for the sum of N51,000,000.00.
Before paying, the petitioner and her lawyer reportedly asked the SAN about the property’s status and were assured that it had a clean title and was unencumbered.
As per the assurances, the petitioner agreed to the offer of the property and made the necessary payment and the parties signed agreement for the transaction.
The house was to be built in approximately two years’ time and the petitioner was to have cleared all payments by then. The petitioner later allegedly saw the slow pace of work on the property and asked for the reason but was assured that the property will still be delivered within the agreed timeline.
In 2021, the petitioner allegedly discovered that there was litigation over the property in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/1182/2018, which was filed by the Senior Advocate (1st Respondent) in March 2018, where the court, presided over by Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf (the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court), granted injunction in 2018.
It is contended that the Petitioner also found out that she was added as a co-claimant in the suit without her knowledge or consent by one Barr Smart Ukpanah (the 2nd Respondent) who filed court processes and appeared for her and other subscribers in court without her knowledge or authority, and that one Barrister Hope C. Onyekwere gave evidence in court on behalf of the Petitioner and others without their knowledge or authority.
The petitioner later engaged a lawyer to approach the court to have her name struck out of the suit and later filed a petition against the respondents before the LPDC in petition No. BB/LPDC/760/2022.
The petitioner is asking the LPDC to investigate the respondents, all of whom are legal practitioners, for alleged misconduct.