Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is facing a crisis after his US counsel, Bruce Fein, wrote to one of his frontline lawyers, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, ordering him to stop defending the separatist leader immediately.
In a letter to Ejiofor that went viral on social media, the US lawyer argued that he [Ejiofor] was ineligible to represent Kanu in court against the Nigerian government’s new allegations.
Fein highlighted a pending case filed by a businessman against Ejiofor for an alleged N5.6 million fraud as one of his grounds.
Ejiofor, he said, had a case to answer, and that the charges were not made up by the Nigerian government.
As a result, he demanded that Ejiofor leave Kanu’s legal team immediately.
“How can you be blind to what the entire world can see and understand?” the letter asks.
“According to the public record, you have a blatant conflict of interest in representing Nnamdi Kanu in the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Judicial Division Holden in Abuja, against the Federal Government of Nigeria’s amended charges, Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, in violation of Rule 10 of the Nigerian Rules of Professional Conduct.”
“According to the public record, you have a conflicting interest in sabotaging Nnamdi Kanu’s defense in exchange for leniency or a pardon in the pending fraud prosecution against you in FRN v. IFEANYI EJIOFOR & 2 ORS, CHARGE NO. CR/950/2020, Court No. 3, FCT High Court, Maitama, before Honourable Justice M.E. Anenih. The next hearing in your case will take place on March 30, 2022.
“The public record shows that the fraud allegations were not made up by the FGN in order to prevent you from representing Nnamdi Kanu. The allegations were sparked by a complaint from a private businessman, Okpala Comas Ikechukwu, who had no political or other reason to smear or cripple you.
“Among other things, he stated in a complaint to the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission that you defrauded him of N5,600,000.00 by conspiring to represent forged land or title documents as authentic.
“Nothing in the public domain demonstrates that you shared your conflict of interest with Nnamdi Kanu and received his knowing and voluntary written consent to represent him notwithstanding the conflict.
“You are saddled with a professional and personal duty to recuse yourself immediately from further representation of Nnamdi Kanu and to apologize for your neglect to do so earlier.
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“As the Bible preaches (Matthew 6: 24): ‘No one can serve two masters.’ I expect you to do the right thing.”
Both the IPOB and Ejiofor are yet to react to the circulating letter.
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