The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Tim Alaibe, has categorically disowned Emeka Ugwuonye, the embattled Washington DC –based lawyer who had claimed in his pleadings that a certain “Nigerian client” had retained him to provide advice on how to sue Omoyele Sowore of Saharareporters for defamation.
According to his pleading gleaned from internet chatrooms, Mr. Ugwuonye, in paragraph 23 of the document, pleads that: “Plaintiff (Mr. Ugwuonye” was retained by a client who complained that defendant Sowore had defamed the client in an article published on Saharareporters. The said Nigerian client requested plaintiff to investigate this complaint and provide legal advice on the merits of a lawsuit for defamatory falsehood against the defendant Sowore d/b/a SAHARAREPORTERS.com”.
Further, in paragraph 24, he states, “Based on information made available to the plaintiff it appeared that one Nigerian businessman based in London, United Kingdom, had paid money to defendant Sowore for him to publish damaging falsehood against plaintiff Ugwuonye’s client in Nigeria”. Saharareporters found out that the Nigerian client Mr. Ugwuonye’s referred to was Timi Alaibe and had reported in full detail how Mr. Alaibe made efforts to reach and compromise Saharareporters, efforts that were fully rebuffed. But in a significant twist to the saga, Alaibe has now denounced Mr. Ugwuonye’s claims, which were repeated in today’s online version of The Guardian on Sunday, where Mr.Ugwuonye admitted to reporter Laolu Akande that his Nigerian client was NDDC’s Timi Alaibe, and that the London –based businessman he had referred to was one “Terry Waya”. Apparently, Mr. Alaibe and Mr. Ugwuonye are at odds over the retainership Mr. Ugwuonye claimed in his pleadings. In a two-page letter sent to Saharareporters by Mr. Alaibe on the official letterheaded paper of the NDDC, and signed by one Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, “special assistant to the Managing director/CEO”, Mr. Alaibe denies retaining Mr. Ugwuonye to sue Saharareporters, contrary to explicit claims in the lawyer’s pleadings.
Mr. Ugwuonye is the United States-based Nigerian lawyer who holds a number of curious distinctions. Among them, he withheld $1.55 million United States tax refunds due to his client, the Nigerian Embassy in Washington D.C. He helped the Embassy to sell off several of its real-estates that have been questioned. He has also sought permission from the the Nigerian government to sue a sitting ambassador, Mr. Rotimi Oluwole who was recently recalled.
The lawyer has also been in trouble in the past year in the United States, resulting in his suspension, first by the State of Maryland, and then by the State of New York.
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