Assemblies Of God Crisis: Rev. Emeka Drags Lawyer To NBA, AGF
–
Loading ...By Friday Ogbonna
Abakaliki
The embattled General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church,
Nigeria, Rev. Prof. Pual Emeka has dragged a legal practitioner,
Eleazar C.N Igbokwe, (Esq.) of “Mastersons Solicitors”, Port-Harcourt,
to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Attorney General of the
Federation over alleged professional misconduct and felony.
Rev. Emeka accused Igbokwe of deliberately misquoting the content of a
court ruling thereby misinforming the public against him, in a
publication he carried out in a national newspaper.
The embattled General Superintendent has been in a protracted legal
battle since 2014 to upturn his suspension by some leaders of the
church.
In a petition to NBA and Attorney General of the Federation, dated 7th
February, 2018, Rev. Emeka, through his attorney, Mr Ifeanyichukwu
Okonkwo, accused Igbokwe of fragrantly violating Rule 32(3) (F) Rules
of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007.
The petition, a copy of which was made available to our reporter in
Enugu, also urged the legal authorities to investigate and discipline
Igbokwe for also violating Rule 32(1) with regard to “CANDID AND FAIR
DEALING”, which according to him requires that, “In appearing in his
professional capacity before a Court of Tribunal, a lawyer shall not
deal with the Court otherwise than candidly and fairly”.
The petitioner insisted that Igbokwe also violated Rule (3) (f), to
the effect that “In appearing in his professional capacity before a
Court or Tribunal, a lawyer shall not – Knowingly misquote the content
of a paper, the testimony of a witness, the language of the argument
of the opposing counsel, or the language of a decisionor or a
textbook.”
He insisted that Igbokwe knowingly misquoted the content of a Supreme
Court Decision in the case of Rev. Prof. Paul Emeka vs. Rev. Dr. Chidi
Okoroafor and 18 Others (2017) 11 NWLR (PT. 1577) 410.
While attaching the relevant evidence and particulars, the petitioner
stated that the misquotation was made in a national newspaper
published in August 24, 2017.
“Please do not hesitate to call on the undersigned of this petition to
expatiate or furnish you with further information, during your
investigations of this case of professional misconduct and breach of
the Criminal Procedure Act, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,”
Okonkwo pleaded.
When contacted, the accused, Barr. Igbokwe said Rev. Emeka has lost.
According to him, “Paul Emeka went to court and lost and lost
woefully. If they wrote to the Bar Association, the Bar will call me
and will show me their petition. If they wrote to federal Attorney
General I am not responsible to federal Attorney General. I am only
responsible to the Bar Association.
“I don’t work for government I work for myself. People should wakeup.
People should clean their head. Please tell them if they have lawyers
working for them they should educate them.
“Who is Paul Emeka? He is being driven out. We sent him out of the
church so, what he is going about will not help him”, Igbokwe replied.
