Legal Luminary, Wole Olanipekun, Disowns Author Of “Contentious Letter”

By Ayodele Oni

The Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN and his Law firm, are at the centre of an alleged misconduct bordering on snatching of a client.

The renowned Lawyer has however, denied that the letter in contention, written to one Mr. Francesco Caio by a Partner in his law firm, has his consent.

The letter, written by Adekunbi Ogunde reads :

“Dear Mr. Caio,

I trust that you had a good weekend, and you are doing well, despite these somewhat challenging times at SAIPEM.

“My name is Adekunbi Ogunde, and I am a Partner leading the oil & gas practice area in Wole Olanipekun & Co.

“I am writing specifically in relation to the ongoing  USD130 million case at the Rivers State High Court brought by the Rivers State Government against Saipem SPA, Saipem Nigeria, and others.

“I believe that, you need a more influential lawyer/law firm to prevent a potential huge pay out to the Rivers State Government and without a doubt, I believe that my law firm, Wole Olanipekun & Co., can help in this regard.

“A quick research about Wole Olanipekun & Co., will show that the law firm is the leading litigation firm that has helped other multinationals in sensitive, highly political matters.

“It will also reveal that the presence of our lead partner, Chief Olanipekun SAN, OFR,  in the matter will significantly switch things in favour of SAIPEM.

“Chief Olanipekun SAN, OFR is currently the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, which is the highest ruling body in the Nigerian legal profession, made up of Supreme Court Judges, Presiding Justices of the Court of Appeal and Chief Judges of all State High Courts, including the Rivers State High Court.

“In order words, Chief Olanipekun SAN, OFR, is the head of the entire legal profession in Nigeria.

“Wole Olanipekun & Co. has also helped other multinationals, such as in the famous cases of  MTN tax dispute, Shell Petroleum,  Equinor (former Statoil) dispute etc.  avoid huge pay outs in more complex, sensitive and highly-political matters.

“We are aware that another law firm is currently in the matter but you will agree that highly-sensitive and political matters require more influence.

“We are happy to work with the current lawyers to achieve the desired results.

“I hope that you consider this so as to help SAIPEM avoid a huge pay out in claims and I am happy to set up a meeting to discuss further. Best regards.”

The case is currently being handled on behalf of the company by the law firm of Ajumogobia & Okeke.

In his disclaimer, Chief Olanipekun said there was no time such matter was discussed with him or any other partner on the law firm and that any such letter emanating from his law firm is usually signed by at least two partners.

Chief Olanipekun’ s letter reads:

“Our attention has just been drawn to a letter sent by mail to Mr. Caio of SAIPEM Contracting Nigeria Limited by Adekunbi Ogunde, purportedly acting on behalf of our law firm.

“The letter was brought to our attention by H. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, OFR, a respected colleague of ours, and a close ally of our Principal, Chief Wole Olanipekun, OFR, SAN. We appreciate the candor of the learned Senior Advocate and his thoughtfulness in bringing the letter to our attention promptly.

“First, let it be known without any equivocation that the said letter was written without the instruction, authority, mandate, approval or consent of Wole Olanipekun & Co.; it was also not brought to our attention by the writer.

“Second, it has never been the practice of our law firm to solicit for cases or clientele, and we shall never indulge ourselves in this disturbing practice and trend.

Third, H. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, OFR is one of the leading lights in our profession, sound in character and knowledge.

“He is intellectually adept, and we are proud to say that our Principal has very high regards for him. In other words, no client or company can have a better counsel to represent it than this icon of the Bar.

“Equally, we have always had, and we still have our high respect for the law firm of Ajumogobia & Okeke. Fourth, the practice in our law firm is that before any letter goes out, it must be cleared in-house, and jointly attested to or signed by two counsel.

“In effect, the writer of the letter under reference was on her own, and we do wholly dissociate ourselves from the letter and its contents; while internal measures would immediately be taken to address and redress this very unfortunate situation.

“The writer never discussed her intention to write the letter or showed it to any person or counsel in the office, either before or after sending it to Mr. Caio.

Our Principal, without being immodest, has never been known to indulge himself in the type of practice portrayed in the letter under reference.

“He is a very sober and humble person, and we believe learned Silk, H. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, OFR can attest to this. He stands for the best in the profession, in terms of ethics, honour, integrity, discipline, character and carriage. Ditto for our office, which has been in existence since 1980.

“As at now, our Principal is in the forefront of initiating reforms in the legal profession, in order to restore its age-long discipline, ethics and honour.

“Thus, on receipt of the letter under reference, he felt so much disgusted, disappointed and distressed.

“To put it mildly, the entire scenario is highly embarrassing to the whole office. Our Principal was in utter shock when his attention was brought to H. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, OFR’s letter by his Secretary. The entire office was also very alarmed and greatly perturbed.

“In parenthesis, we dissociate ourselves from the letter under reference, as the writer was on her own. As stated earlier, we will address this shortly. Put in other words, the letter is hereby retracted unequivocally; in spite of the fact that it was unauthorized and done without our permission, authority or consent.

“We unreservedly apologize to the highly respected H. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, OFR, and the entire law firm of Ajumogobia & Okeke for the embarrassment which the letter might have caused them; but let it be known that the letter has also caused us a lot of embarrassment as well.”

The letter was signed on behalf of Wole Olanipekun & Co. by James Adesulu,

Associate Counsel and Quam Owolabi Bisiriyu, Associate Counsel.