Nigeria’s Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has suspended prominent lawyer Joe-Kyari Gadzama, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), from practicing law for three years after finding him guilty of professional misconduct linked to litigation involving victims of the 2001 Zaki Biam killings in Benue State. The committee also suspended lawyer Ocha Ulegede from legal practice for two years over the same matter.
The LPDC, the body responsible for disciplining legal practitioners in Nigeria, ruled that both lawyers engaged in misconduct in connection with their handling of the case involving survivors and families of victims of the military operation in Zaki Biam. The committee’s full ruling and the specific findings underlying the sanctions were not immediately available.
The Zaki Biam case stems from a military operation carried out by Nigerian troops in October 2001 after the killing of several soldiers in Benue State. Human rights groups alleged that hundreds of civilians were killed during the operation, although the Nigerian military has disputed the casualty figures. The incident remains one of the country’s most widely cited cases involving allegations of human rights abuses by security forces.
The litigation has centered on efforts by survivors and relatives of those killed to obtain justice and compensation for the alleged abuses. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria is the country’s highest honorary rank for lawyers, comparable to the title of King’s Counsel in the United Kingdom. It was not immediately clear whether Gadzama or Ulegede would challenge the disciplinary decision. Under Nigerian law, lawyers disciplined by the LPDC may seek a review of the committee’s decision through the courts.
