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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Rights activist Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor has dragged two senior lawyers before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), accusing them of professional misconduct over the controversial withdrawal of N300 million from the Itsekiri Regional Development Committee (IRDC) account.
In a petition marked BB/LPDC/641/2021, Lori-Ogbebor named Peter Odion Aihiokhai and Olukunle Ogheneovo Edun (SAN) as respondents, alleging that the two lawyers breached their professional and fiduciary duties in handling fees connected to their representation of her and other claimants in the long-running IRDC litigation.
She said she had also lodged separate petitions on the matter with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
At the heart of the petition is whether the lawyers properly negotiated, disclosed, and accounted for professional fees before withdrawing N300 million from the N2.2 billion sitting in the IRDC account.
The respondents have denied the allegations and are defending themselves before the committee.
When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, Lori-Ogbebor, led in evidence by her counsel, Goodness Ajinomoh, told the committee that the lawyers failed to brief her before withdrawing the funds as professional fees.
She said that after she engaged and paid them to represent her in the IRDC dispute, they proceeded to involve themselves in other transactions without her knowledge or consent, and never rendered an account back to her.
The committee has adjourned the case to September 28 for the respondents to open their defence.
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Chevron Nigeria Limited established the IRDC in 2005, disbursing N7.2 billion to the committee for the development of 24 Itsekiri communities.
In January 2023, Chevron sued Lori-Ogbebor and several others before a Delta State High Court in Warri, seeking an injunction to stop them from withdrawing or transferring funds from the IRDC account domiciled with Keystone Bank, pursuant to a consent judgment.
Chevron alleged that the defendants, relying on a consent judgment in Suit No. EHC/20/2020, had withdrawn N300 million from the account in breach of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) and the account mandate, purportedly as legal fees.
Lori-Ogbebor has consistently denied any link to the withdrawal. She instead instituted her own suit against Chevron, the IRDC and other parties over the alleged mismanagement and diversion of billions of naira meant for community development legal action that led to court orders freezing multiple bank accounts holding the development funds.
She dismissed as malicious a report linking her to the N300 million domiciled in one of the new-generation banks, insisting she is neither a signatory to the IRDC account nor a member of the committee, and has never taken a contract from anyone connected to it.
“I am only fighting for accountability in IRDC,” the elder stateswoman said, explaining that this was what drove her to seek a court order restraining IRDC members from what she describes as mismanagement of the funds.
“I also reported through formal petitions the matter of the withdrawal of the N300 million to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the NBA.
My advocacy for accountability in the management of community development funds in Itsekiriland is known to everyone. The facts are there in the papers for anyone to see. I have never taken any contract from anyone, and I am not a signatory to IRDC accounts.”
