A Lagos-based journalist and media consultant, Mr. Kunle Rotimi, has petitioned the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) of the Body of Benchers, asking the body to sanction a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Babajide Oladipupo, for professional misconduct and defamation of character.
 
In the petition dated January 6, 2025, and addressed to the Chairman of the LPDC in Abuja, Rotimi urged the committee to take appropriate disciplinary actions against the senior lawyer for what he described as “obnoxious, defamatory and riticiz” statements made during court proceedings in his legal battle with the National Universities Commission (NUC).
 
Rotimi, who stated that he had successfully concluded the said litigation in his favour, claimed that Oladipupo, while representing the NUC, made several damaging allegations against him in open court and through filed legal documents.
 
He specifically recalled an incident during his cross-examination in 2019 before Justice Isaac Essien, where Oladipupo allegedly told the court that Rotimi had previously written a letter of apology to a former NUC director, Garba Buwai, admitting he had lied about claims of gratification.
 
Rotimi said the court later found the interpretation of the said letter by Oladipupo to be misleading.
 
The petitioner also cited paragraphs 31 and 34 of the senior lawyer’s written address, which he said contained false claims, including the denial of the existence of two NUC employees—Aliyu and A. Mbeh—despite the availability of official payroll records.
 
Further, Rotimi alleged that in a brief submitted to the Court of Appeal, Oladipupo falsely accused him of forging a document dated January 8, 1996, even though the document had been acknowledged by the NUC in various official communications since 1996.
 
According to him, Oladipupo SAN deliberately and maliciously defamed him and injured his reputation in the estimation of the global public, which may have everlasting access to his defamatory statements in court documents and his official records at NUC.
 
Rotimi is demanding an unreserved apology from Oladipupo, retraction of the offensive statements from all filed court processes, and a compensation of N20 million for the psychological trauma and reputational harm suffered.
 
He further stated that should the SAN fail to comply with these demands within 21 days, he would proceed with a formal petition to the LPDC, file a N500 million libel suit, and publish the apology in three national newspapers — The Guardian, Punch, and Vanguard.
 
The letter was also copied to the Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) in Abuja.

When The Guardian contacted Oladipupo, he said he had no knowledge of the allegations and requested to be furnished a copy of it. 
 
That was promptly delivered to him, and he replied: “I’m unaware of this petition or what the guy is talking about. You have to do a better investigation of his allegations.”