The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has suspended a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Joe-Kyari Gadzama, from legal practice for three years, over his roles in the case involving victims and survivors of the 2001 military attack on Zaki Biam in Benue State.
The LPDC gave “the direction” on Wednesday on a petition brought against him by Chris Alash, a lawyer who accused Mr Gadzama of unprofessional and unethical practices regarding the Zaki Biam case.
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It suspended another lawyer, Ocha Ulegede, who was also accused in the petition, from legal practice for two years, TheCable reported.
According to the committee, the decision goes into effect from the date it was delivered. The LPDC informed all heads of superior courts of record in Nigeria to act on it.
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The committee found that Mr Gadzama, who has practised law for 40 years, and Mr Ulegede, breached various provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023.
Mr Gadzama, who represented about 40 of the victims and survivors, according to TheCable, rejected the judgement, saying the petitioner’s allegations that he improperly took over another lawyer’s brief, solicited clients and wrongfully appropriated professional fees pertaining to the Zaki Biam case in violation of the professional rules were unfounded.
He recalled that the complaint against him arose from a dispute concerning legal representation and professional fees.
The disputes centred on the handling of the case of the victims and survivors of the Zaki Biam military attack and the N8 billion the federal government paid based on a settlement agreement.
Zaki Biam was overrun in October 2001 by Nigerian soldiers on the orders of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, after suspected Tiv militia killed 19 soldiers there following skirmishes with their Jukun neighbours.
In response, Mr Obasanjo ordered an invasion of the communities spanning four Benue Local Government Areas in retaliation for the killings.
In an operation that went on for days, hundreds of troops ransacked border communities in Logo, Ukum, Kwande and Katsina Ala, killing several men, women and children and razing several communities.
Following the attack, some survivors and families of victims sued the federal government at the Federal High Court in Enugu, Enugu State, to seek compensation for the deaths, destruction of property and violations of their fundamental rights.
Delivering judgement in July 2007, Justice Lewis Allagoa awarded N41.8 billion compensation to the plaintiffs against the federal government.
The federal government appealed against the decision but later went into a negotiation with the judgement creditors, which reportedly led to N8 billion settlement agreement.
In 2015, two top lawyers, Itsay Sagay and Mike Ozekhome, warned the federal government against paying the N8 billion Zaki Biam massacre victims’ funds to the Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam.
The payment of the compensation was what set off disputes between Mr Gadzama and the petitioner.
Gadzama appeals against decision
Mr Gadzama, in his statement rejecting the LPDC’s decision, recalled that the petitioner accused him of impropriety taking over another lawyer’s brief, soliciting clients and wrongfully appropriating professional fees.
“Those allegations are, with respect, unfounded,” he said in the statement which TVC published on its website on Wednesday.
He said he was retained directly by the judgement creditors through a written instruction “and acted throughout strictly in accordance with that professional retainer.”
“In my respectful view, the documentary evidence before the Committee does not support the findings made against me,” he said.
He said he already instructed his lawyers to appeal against the judgement at the Supreme Court, the court that exercises appellate jurisdiction over the decisions of the LPDC.
“I have every confidence that the Supreme Court will carefully consider the legal and factual issues raised by this matter and arrive at a just determination,” he said.
He also maintained that his appeal, filed within the specified timeframe automatically stops, the effect of the judgement. This, he said, means he can continue to practise law while he pursues his appeal.
Addressing his clients, colleagues, friends and the general public, Mr Gadzama said, “my right to practise as a legal Practitioner remains unaffected pending the final determination of the appeal, in accordance with the provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act.”
“Pursuant to section 11(8)(a) of the Legal Practitioners Act, the filing of an appeal within the prescribed time prevents the direction from taking effect pending the determination of the appeal.”
Gadzama’s profile
The senior lawyer became a Notary Public in June 1996.
He was elevated to the SAN rank in 1998, which was 12 years after his call to the Bar.
His Linked-In profile described him as a lawyer with professional experience spanning “a vast area of adjectival/procedural and substantive law.”
According to the profile, he is recognised internationally based on his expert opinion on the nature of damages recoverable under Nigerian Law.
Mr Gadzama, who hails from Borno State, is also registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Abuja as a Capital Market Consultant.
He previously served as a partner in the legal consortium of Legal Advisory Partnership (LAP), comprising foreign and indigenous lawyers charged with the responsibility of providing legal services to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) Abuja, from April 2004 to July 2007.
His law firm, J-K Gadzama LLP, which he established in 1989 is 35 years old.
On its website, the law firm prides itself on having vast experience in areas including commercial and financial transactions, corporate legal services, capital market operations, privatisation, telecommunications, maritime, constitutional law, oil and gas, and litigation.
It states that in three decades, it has handled more than 1,500 briefs, many of which it described as “landmark cases that have contributed to the development of Nigeria’s legal system.”
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