The name “Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN” is an authority in the Nigerian legal space. Lawyers quote his name in court to convince other lawyers and even judges. He is one of the oldest living members of the inner bar having been conferred a SAN in 1991; when most lawyers of today are still toddlers and some are even yet to be born.
Young lawyers watch him with so much admiration, how he marshals out his points and arguments with resounding tone and cerebral prowess. He is one of the most admired lawyers that lawyers even go to court just to listen to him present his case and argue his facts and he never disappoints.
It is rather ridiculous to be making jest of a person of that caliber; that he cannot win a case free and fair without external or unethical influence on the judge his matter is before; after all, he is the chairman of a committee which most (if not all) judges in Nigeria are members of.
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This whole drama started in June 2022 when one Ms. Adekunbi Ogunde, a partner in the law firm of Messr Chief Wole Olanipekun wrote a letter to a prospective client boasting about how influential the boss (Chief Wole Olanipekun) is and how the boss amongst other things can easily influence the outcome of cases in Nigeria as the chairman of body of benchers which judges are members of.
Lawyers in different circles have been protesting about this incident calling for the discipline of the lawyer that sent out this kind of letter since it is an aberration to the Rules of Professional Conduct of legal practitioners and some of us are in shock and in utter dismay, asking one another if this is what really goes on behind the scenes in courtrooms; that can a celebrated lawyer of high repute like Chief Wole really engage in unethical practices to influence judges to get judgments and judicial outcomes in his favour? as proudly boasted by Chief’s young colleague: This assertion should be thoroughly looked into and investigated.
One thing that cannot be denied no matter how far we stretch the argument is that Chief is a very sound and cerebral legal mind. He is solid and extremely good with this legal craft. I have watched him in court many times present his case and argument; his arguments are always astute and resounding, so enough with the silly comments and subtle diss from some lawyers who may have been looking for a way to take a stab on Chief that all Chief has been doing is to go to court show his face and later put a call across to the judge. This is totally unfair to the person of Chief and ridiculing his legacies but truth be told, it was the handwork of an overzealous partner in the Chief’s office who first made an open boast of how influential Chief is and how tChief is the head of judges and justice in Nigeria and his involvement in any matter will always switch things in the Favour of the client that exposed Chief to this unwonted attacks and silly insults.
But the law is the law, no matter who is involved and the law must be allowed to take its course. It is glaring (although until proven guilty) that a partner and a young colleague of Chief Wole broke some rules of the RPC specifically rule 39(2) which prohibits solicitations of this kind and according to the rules of the RPC which Chief is one of those that made the law, once a lawyer despite the status of that lawyer is accused to have broken any ethical rule, that lawyer must be summoned before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) to determine if that lawyer is guilty or not and if determined to be guilty, appropriate punishment must be meted to that fellow.
On this note, the Nigerian Bar Association advised Chief to step down as the chairman of the Body of Benchers (BOB) for the time being reason being that the LPDC which a partner in the law firm of Chief is brought before is a committee under the supervision of the BOB which Chief is chairing and the presence of Chief may likely raise the presumption of bias on the part of Chief and according to the rule of fair hearing, one cannot be a judge in his own matter.
Chief has accused some members of the bar of using this as an avenue to throw insults and jabs at him but even if this claim is true, it does not whittle down the point that his presence as the chairman of a body superintending over the affairs of the disciplinary committee will likely influence the outcome or there will be a reasonable presumption of that.
The law is the law, Chief should in good faith step down for the time being and allow his colleague to face the disciplinary panel, if not Chief will be setting a dangerous precedent that the law is only made for the weak and less influential but the powerful and influential are far above the law.
Chief has allowed the matter to be messy. Some tribal bigots in the legal profession has given it tribal colouration which is not good for the profession and Chief. Where is the rule of law and justice we profess if Chief continues to sit as the chairman of BOB? They should save the legal profession of unnecessary ridicule by doing the needful. No one is above the law.
There is still no basis for his stepping down.