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Imo State Attorney General, Ken Njemanze, appears to have been caught in the middle of a dispute over a traditional throne. He is alleged to have used his position as the state’s Attorney General to influence the judgement of the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri over the dispute in which he is considered an active participant.

A group known as Imo State Concerned Citizens Abroad based in Slovakia sent a petition dated July 19, 2010 to the National Judicial Council (NJC) accusing the Mr. Njemanze of colluding with Mojeed Owoade, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Owerri, to fraudulently subvert an earlier judgement of an Imo State High Court, Orlu, over the matter between the state (plaintiff) and Cyracus Amaechi Mkpado (accused).

Another group, the Concerned Citizens of Orlu based in California, United States of America, also petitioned the NJC on the same matter calling on the body to investigate Mr. Njemanze, Mr. Owoade and another justice of the Appeal Court in Owerri, Helen Ogunwumiju, for what it termed “their roles in this travesty of justice”.

Attempted murder

Cyracus Mkpado was charged by the state for attempting to kill one Chima Mkpado by shooting him during a marriage ceremony on December 31, 1991. The shooting was believed to have been precipitated by their quarrel over the kingship stool of Umuzike autonomous community in Orlu local governemnt area, which Cyracus Mkpado was occupying then.

When the case came up for hearing at an Imo State High Court, Orlu, Mr. Njemanze was part of the legal team representing Cyracus Mkpado. On February 22, 2007 Benjamin Njemanze, the presiding judge, passed a guilty verdict on the accused. Ken Njemanze entered a plea of leniency on behalf of his client on the ground that he was a first offender. The judge subsequently sentenced him to five years imprisonment with the option of N500,000.00 fine, which was promptly paid in full by the accused.

Following the verdict of the High Court, Cyracus Mkpado was stripped of his position as the king of Umuzike and his opponent, Chima Mkpado, appointed as the king-elect of the community.

Controversial appeal

However, after the payment of the fine, Mr. Njemanze on behalf of his client, filed an appeal contesting the judgement of the lower court. However, before the conclusion of the appeal Mr. Njemanze was appointed the attorney general of the state. He, however, through his law firm reportedly continued to act as the counsel to the appellant despite being the chief legal officer of the state.

Trouble came when the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri upturned the decision of the lower court. The verdict of the appellate court led to a situation where the two parties resumed their claim to the throne.

Supporters of Chima Mkpado claimed that the proceeding at the Appeal Court was rigged. They accused Mr. Njemanze of abuse of office. According to them, he colluded with Mr. Owoade and Mrs. Ogunwumiju to subvert the true course of justice.

“The Attorney General, Barrister Ken Njemanze’s stand in this matter shows a conflict of interest and is apparent that he is still operating as the accused council rather than in the interest of the Imo State as the current Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Imo State.”

Conflict of interest

This situation was described as an “infamous conduct” by Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based lawyer, as it places the attorney general in the compromising position of being the counsel to both the appellant and the respondent. According to Mr. Ogunye, it is clear from the conduct of the attorney general that he “deliberately wanted to sabotage the administration of justice”.

However, Mr. Ogunye berated Chima Mkpado for not acting as at when due.

“The person that is crying foul now has every right at the Court of Appeal to file an application challenging the decision of the attorney general as the counsel to the appellant asking the court to disqualify the attorney general’s chambers from appearing because of conflict of interest.”

Another Lagos-based lawyer, Charles Musa, said as much as the action of Mr. Njemanze may not be strictly illegal, it is not ideal.

“It is not neat”, he said. “There may be conflict of interest. It would have been better if he was not involved; his chambers should not have touched the case.”

However, he said that sometimes it may not be practical to ask a lawyer to hands off all cases involving the government.

“Once he leaves his chamber to become the attorney general he may want to argue that he is no more the lawyer handling it. He has resigned from the chamber and he cannot close the chamber because he becomes attorney general.”

According to Mr. Musa the allegation that the attorney general influenced the decision of the court of appeal to his favour is far-fetched.

“To say that he influenced the Court of Appeal, No, unless there is prove”.

In a telephone interview with NEXT, Mr. Njemanze completely denied having anything thing to do with the decision of the Court of Appeal.

“I have nothing to do with the case,” he said. “It is ridiculous for them to accuse me of influencing the court of appeal. I have no interest whatsoever with the case, I’m not from Orlu; I’m from Owerri. So what is in it for me? I have resigned from my former chamber and I have nothing to do with their work there. It is a busy place with senior lawyers, so why will I want to get involved in their operations?”

Mr. Njemanze also promised to make available all documents relating to the case to show that his hands are clean.

Meanwhile, in a letter dated August 4, 2010 and signed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, the NJC, while referring to the petition sent by Imo State Concern Citizens, gave the judges two weeks to respond to the accusation levelled against them.

Efforts made by NEXT to know the present status of the case has not yielded any result, as the commission had not responded to our enquiry before we went to press.

GLANCE BOX:

1. December 31, 1991: Cyracus Mkpado was accused of attempting to kill Chima Mkpado with a gun during a traditional marriage ceremony at Umuowa, Orlu.

2. February 22, 2007: An Orlu High Court, Imo State found Cyracus Mkpado guilty as charged of attempted murder and sentenced him to 5 years imprisonment with an option of N500,000.00 fine.

3. March 5, 2007: Cyracus Mpkado appealed the judgement of the Orlu High Court

4. June 25,2010: The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri upturned the verdict of the High Court and acquitted Cyracus Mkpado of attempted murder.