As the trial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) continues in January 2022, the IPOB leadership is considering replacing the current legal team (headed by Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor) with a top legal luminary. The well-respected lawyer who is being considered is ‘Onyechi Ikpeazu’. In this post, we shall look at the Biography of Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), the new Nnamdi Kanu lawyer.
At the time of this publication, IPOB has not discarded its current legal team headed by Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor. They want the legal team to be spearheaded by a ‘lawyer with high pedigree, known and highly respected within the Nigerian judiciary system.
According to a source, IPOB believed that the current legal team is populated by ‘activists’ who are best suited to work with a ‘legal luminary’ of not below the rank of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The source said: “The current legal team has more interest in drawing publicity stunts at the expense of the client and we do not want anything that can affect our cause”.
IPOB believes that Dr. Ikpeazu was not likely going to compromise considering the huge implications it might have for his career as a leading international legal practitioner.
Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu Biography – IPOB’s proposed Lawyer
Onyechi Ikpeazu is a brilliant Nigerian lawyer and also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He was born on April 15, 1959 in Onitsha, Anambra State. Onyechi graduated from Oklahoma City University in United States where he obtained of Doctor of Juridical Science between 1982 and 1984.
Onyechi Ikpeazu was called to the Bar as Barrister and solicitor of the supreme Court of Nigeria in 1984. In 2002 he was conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and he has been in active legal practice till date.
This legal icon is a former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Onitsha Branch. He had headed the legal team of Adeleke in the Osun State Governorship election petition. He argued that the INEC returning Officer as it were lacked the locus to cancel the Osun State governorship concluded election. His reasons are as follows: “Our electoral laws did not empower the Returning officer to do so” and in his defense, Osun State tribunal members accepted his argument by declaring his client winner.
Source: Nyscinfo