LPDC DECISION IN RE: GADZAMA AND OTHERS

RE: Gadzama SAN, Chris Alashi and Ulegede.

The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) had recently in July 2026 reached a decision suspending senior lawyer Joe-Kyari Gadzama SAN, from legal practice for three years, following petition by one Mr Chris Alashi on allegations of unethical conduct by the legal practitioner over compensation for victims of the 2001 Zaki-Biam military operation in Benue State.

The disciplinary proceedings followed Alashi's complaint against Gadzama and one Ocha Ulegede, over representation of judgment creditors in a prolonged litigation involving compensation awarded after the Zaki-Biam military invasion

The LPDC had consequently, suspended Gadzama and Ulegede, after finding them guilty of the allegations of professional misconduct, for "poaching" of clients belonging to another lawyer.

Meanwhile, Triplenet recalls that a petition had first arisen in 2015 brought by Ulegede against Gadzama before the NBA, also alleging professional misconduct against the silk and claiming that his client was compelled to debrief him, while engaging the silk.

NBA's POSITION in 2015 PETITION OF OCHA ULEGEDE

Triplenet reports that the 2015 petition was brought against Gadzama by Ulegede who was later named as Co-Respondent with the learned silk in Chris Alashi's petition.

Now, in a letter by the NBA dated 16 July 2015, in response to Ulegede's petition, the body had stated that Ulegede did not disclose an allegation of non-compliance with the applicable Rules of Professional Conduct, and consequently stated that there was no basis forwarding same to a Disciplinary Panel.

The NBA did not proceed with the petition because it concluded that the complainant, Ochai Ulegede, lacked the standing to raise the issue.

NBA had in its ratio, held that allegations that a client was compelled to debrief his solicitor, could only be brought by the client directly and not by counsel.

The Association also observed that the dispute had already been taken before a court of law, as Ocha Ulegede already instituted legal proceedings against Gadzama over circumstances surrounding his client's debriefing.

Given that the complaint was not filed by the person considered to have the legal right to do so and that the matter was already pending before the court (sub judice), the NBA had determined that it could not entertain or investigate the petition.


MAIN ISSUE IN CHRIS ALASHI'S PETITION

The dispute arose from a prolonged battle over who had authority to represent the said judgement creditors, how the settlement should be recovered and distributed, and which lawyers were entitled to legal fees.

Alashi had alleged that the duo of Gadzama and Ulegede interfered with his representation of some of the judgement creditors in the case.

2026 DECISION BY THE LPDC

In a bulk page document of the decision obtained by TRIPLENET, the LPDC after careful perusal of the entire issue, decided that Gadzama had offended Rules 1, 27(1) and 29(1)(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for Legal Practitioners, 2023.

The committee also suspended Ulegede, from practice for 2 years after it also found him guilty of misconduct and violating Rule 1 of the RPC.

The committee also compared documents bearing signatures attributed to Andrew Juntu and found discrepancies. It consequently, found that the document was forged, and proceeded to question why the signatures attributed to Mr Juntu on some documents did not correspond with another signature attributed to him.

Thus, the petition written to NBA in 2015 and the one decided by LPDC in 2026 appears to be different in substance.

The panel was presided by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Umeh Kalu, and had other members as Justice Halima I. Abdulmalik, the Chief Judge of Niger State, and Justice Halima S. Mohammed, the Chief Judge of Gombe State.

It also had silks Dr. Garba Usman Tetengi and Mr. Solomon Umoh as members.


READ THE FULL DECISION ATTACHED HEREWITH