Nigerian Concord Newspaper
The governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party who is also a former Minister for Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN has finally secured relief on accusations made against him on Zaki Biam Massacre compensation as the Legal Practitioners and Disciplinary Committee, LPDC finally named and sanctioned the erring actors on the issues.
Recall that shortly after Chief Aondoakaa secured the governorship ticket of the People’s Democratic Party, false reports started flying on the Social Media with accusations that he was behind the delay and shortchanging of the payments of compensation which a court had awarded to victims of Zaki Biam-Gbeji massacres.
There was a military operation carried out in Benue State in October 2001, following the killing of 19 soldiers, and during the operation, soldiers invaded Zaki Biam and the surrounding communities, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and widespread destruction of property.
But the Legal Practitioners and Disciplinary Committee, LPDC yesterday cleared Aondoakaa from the dispute by identifying the lawyers whom the LPDC accused of misconduct.
Those identified and sanctioned are a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Joe Kyari Gadzama and another lawyer, Ocha Ulegede who have been suspended for three years and two years respectively, from law practice.
The legal body suspended them over their roles in the Zaki Biam victims settlement by the federal government and this came as a result of a petition, number BB/LPDC/1314/2024 that was filed against them by a lawyer, Chris Alashi.
The LPDC stated yesterday that it suspended them over their roles in the case, which was deemed misconduct.
In its judgement which was delivered by Justice Halima Ibrahim, the LPDC found the Respondents, Ocha Ulegede, Esq and J. K. Gadzama, SAN, liable for being in breach of various Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023.
The LPDC consequently suspended Ocha Ulegede, Esq, from legal practice for two years with effect from the date of delivery of the judgment.
K. Gadzama, SAN, was suspended from legal practice for a period of three years from the date of the judgment.
Meanwhile, it has been gathered that Aondoakaa didn’t not use his position as the AGF to truncate payment for victims of Zaki Biam massacres by Nigerian military personnel as documents from the Federal Ministry of Justice showed that Aondoakaa didn’t stop the payment to Zaki Biam people.
According to documents which were gathered from the Justice Ministry in Abuja, the judgment was made by the Supreme Court when Chief Bayo Ojo was the Attorney General of the Federation under former president Olusegun Obasanjo. That was years before Aondoakaa became AGF.
A senior official of the Federal Ministry of Justice said: “The judgement was passed by the Supreme Court under Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN as the Minister for Justice and Attorney General of the Federation. That was years before Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN took over as the country’s Chief Law Officer.
“And the federal government agreed to pay N8billion as compensation but the people of Zaki Biam refused. They didn’t accept the money till after the administration ”
Some of the documents made available by officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja indicated that when Kaase Aondoakaa came in as AGF in 2007, he discovered that the federal government had agreed to pay Zaki Biam N8billion as compensation but they refused.
It was gathered further that Aondoakaa made efforts to resolve the issue by making pleas that the victims should accept the N8billion compensation but still they didn’t accept it till he left as AGF in 2010.
However, before the agreement was reached, the Federal government under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo sent valuers to value the cost of the damages during the massacres and they were valued at N8billion
Apart from that, the Nigerian Army too also sent its own valuers to value the damages and everyone arrived at N8billion as at that time.
“The people of Zaki Biam refused to accept the money because they thought it was too small. But surprisingly, it was the same N8billion they accepted after fifteen years.
“Immediately Chief Aondoakaa assumed duties as AGF in 2007, he made a plea that the N8billion should be accepted as he had no power to influence the decision of the federal government to pay them N8billion.
“How does anyone think that Aondoakaa could influence a matter that has to do with the federal government as well as the Nigerian Army.
“This didn’t happen in Zaki Biam alone, it also happened in Odi, Bayelsa state, and the Obasanjo-led administration agreed to make a compensation so for anyone to think that Aondoakaa had the power to change the negotiation because he was AGF was totally wrong. Do you know how many AGFs that Nigeria has had from the time Aondoakaa left office and why didn’t any of them influence the negotiation” another official of the Ministry said.