Following a recent announcement engaging international law firms to lead the global effort to address legal and political-based issues, the Aiteo Group and its Executive Vice-Chairman Benedict Peters have appointed top Nigerian lawyers to complement their international representation efforts within the country.
The team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), comprises senior lawyers such as Kanu Agabi (SAN) and Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), both former attorneys general of Nigeria (AGF) and ministers of justice; reknowned constitutional and human rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Messrs Paul Usoro (SAN), Rotimi Ogunesi (SAN) and A. U. Mustapha (SAN).
Other lawyers include Ebenezer Obeya, Chief Andrew Oru, Mrs Boma Alabi, Messrs Chidi Nobis-Elendu, Emeka Ozoani and Joseph Nwatu.
Olanipekun, who is described as Nigeria’s avant-garde lawyer, is referred to as the leading trial lawyer in the country. Agabi, an accomplished litigator, served Nigeria twice as AGF as did Olujinmi whose core practice is also litigation. Ozekhome’s reputation as one of Nigeria’s foremost constitutional lawyer and human rights advocates draws from a lifelong career of fighting oppression and injustice through courts and social advocacy.
Usoro is a nationally acclaimed litigation and transaction expert whose core areas span the gamut of commercial law practice. Excellent all-rounders Ogunesi (of the stable of Abdullahi Ibrahim (SAN), also a former AGF) and Mustapha make up the team. Others in the team include security law expert Ebenezer Obeya, dual qualified and former President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association Boma Alabi as well as the combative Andrew Oru.
Announcing the appointments, Aiteo’s Group Executive Director and General Counsel Andrew Onyearu said: “The Group’s belief in the rule of law and the legal processes in Nigeria requires engagement with both commitment and premium resources. Recently, our conviction in the infallibility of our judicial processes continues to be vindicated by judicial pronouncements deprecating the unjustified calumnious attacks on our business and personal outlook. Our respect for this process mandates that those who advocate positions on our behalf possess and demonstrate the type of world-class credentials that our lawyers clearly possess.”
According to Onyearu, “At the fulcrum of this stance is that desire to ensure that the course of justice is charted with the utmost sense of application, responsibility and expertise… The Group has been adversely affected by a litany of unsustainable unlawful developments affecting both reputational and commercial integrity in a manner that has negatively impacted its operations.
The Group can no longer allow this situation to continue and as such, has resolved to take steps to protect all its legal interests. Recent positive – and ground breaking – outcomes from judicial interventions that we have achieved serve as clear pointers about the direction that we are now pursuing. Increasing the successful utilisation of the judicial process in areas where we have been wronged will be the main objective of the team we have now put together.â€
