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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN, leave to challenge his three-year suspension from legal practice by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), opening a fresh legal battle over the disciplinary decision.
Justice Obiora-Atuegwu Egwuatu, in an order made in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1954/2026, granted Gadzama leave to apply for judicial review and seek an order of certiorari, a supervisory remedy through which a court may review and, where appropriate, quash a decision of a body exercising judicial or quasi-judicial powers.
The court directed that the substantive application be filed within seven days and fixed the matter for September 4, 2026.
The order, granted pursuant to Order 34 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, allows Gadzama to bring his challenge but does not quash the LPDC’s Direction or amount to a finding that the disciplinary committee acted unlawfully.
The full grounds of the challenge are expected to emerge when the substantive application and accompanying statement are filed. The disciplinary proceedings arose from a dispute over the representation of victims of the 2001 military operations in Zaki-Biam, Benue State, and the subsequent recovery of compensation arising from the litigation.
In a 70-page decision delivered on July 29 in Complaint No. BB/LPDC/1314/2024, the LPDC found Gadzama guilty of professional misconduct under Rules 1, 27(1) and 29(1)(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2023 and suspended him from practice for three years.
Another lawyer involved in the complaint, Ocha P. Ulegede, was suspended for two years.
The committee directed the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court to give effect to the suspensions, make the appropriate notation against Gadzama’s name on the Roll and notify relevant judicial and government authorities.
According to the LPDC’s Direction, Ulegede was originally briefed by Dr Alexander Gaadi to pursue claims against the Nigerian Army and other defendants over property destroyed during the military operation.
Two suits arising from the dispute were subsequently consolidated, with the Federal High Court awarding a total of N41.8 billion to the judgment creditors—N31.8 billion in one suit and N10 billion in the other.
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The judgment later became the subject of negotiations that resulted in an N8 billion settlement.
Gadzama became involved in the matter after one of the judgment creditors approached him in 2008 and retained him to represent himself and four others.
He subsequently filed notices of change of counsel, a move opposed by Ulegede and other parties who maintained that the judgment creditors were already represented.
That disagreement formed the basis of the disciplinary complaint against the senior lawyer.
The LPDC ultimately found that Gadzama had improperly taken over clients already represented by another lawyer, acted for some judgment creditors who later denied instructing him and continued taking steps after some of those individuals had expressly disowned him.
The committee also relied on an earlier Court of Appeal decision which it said had criticised Gadzama’s conduct in the underlying litigation.
Gadzama, however, rejected the allegations after the LPDC’s decision, insisting that he neither took another lawyer’s brief nor solicited clients or wrongfully appropriated professional fees.
He maintained that he had been directly retained by judgment creditors through written letters of instruction and had acted in accordance with those retainers.
According to him, the complaint essentially concerned a dispute over representation and professional fees rather than professional misconduct.
Significantly, the LPDC declined to determine the dispute over Gadzama’s professional fees, holding that the issue fell outside its jurisdiction and could be pursued before the regular courts.
That aspect of the committee’s decision could become relevant as the Federal High Court begins to consider Gadzama’s challenge to the disciplinary proceedings.
