MONROVIA – The Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) has rejected an invitation from Cllr. A. Ndubuisi Nwabudike, chairman of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) to partake in the National Anti-Corruption Conference scheduled for September 16-17.
The LNBA’s rejection letter was specific that the rejection was due to Cllr. Nwabudike being the host of the conference.
The Bar had expelled the LACC Chairman on the basis of fraud after it established that he ‘fraudulently’ presented himself as a Liberian to obtain membership with the Bar.
Cllr. Nwabudike’s alleged fraud came to light when he struggled to prove his nationality before the Liberian Senate when he was nominated to serve as chairman of the National Elections Commission.
It was the third time he was being nominated to a high-profile post by President George Weah.
Cllr. Nwabudike was first appointed to serve as Chairman of the Governance Commission, followed by his nomination and subsequent appointment to the LACC.
However, his apparent luck of slipping through the cracks came to an end when he was named to head the country’s electoral body ahead of a major senatorial election.
At his confirmation hearing, Cllr. Nwabudike, a Nigerian, presented documents that carried multiple dates of birth, including his passports.
This prompted the Liberia National Bar Association of which he was a member at the time to launch an investigation into the matter.
In its findings, the LNBA established the following:
On April 3, 2020, the Liberian Immigration Service wrote a letter informing the Grievance and Ethics Committee that it did not have any record on Cllr. Nwabudike legal residency status or naturalization in Liberia;
On April 6, 2020, the Committee obtained a clerk certificate from the Clerk of the First Judicial Circuit, Criminal Assizes “B” Temple of Justice, informing it that it had no record about Cllr. Nwabudike’s residency or naturalization status;
From documents obtained from the Senate Confirmation hearings of Cllr. Nwabudike and the pleadings in the record of the Civil Law Court on a petition for declaratory judgment filed by him, the Grievance and Ethics Committee found the following inconsistent information:
A purported certificate of naturalization presented to the Liberian Senate by Cllr. Nwabudike showed that he was issued same by Criminal Court “B” at the Temple of Justice on May 13, 1982, when in fact that court was called the People’s Criminal Court “B” during the regime of the People’s Redemption Council (PRC), thereby creating more doubt;
A perusal of His various passports showed his birth dates as October 19, 1960, October 2, 1963, October 2, 1965 and October 2, 1969;
His 2004 Liberian Passport carries his date of birth as October 2, 1963 and his name as A. Nkwuka Ndubuisi Nwabudike, instead of the name that appears on the roster of the Liberian National Bar Association and Supreme Court Bar which is A. Ndubuisi Nwabudike;
His Liberian National Identification card carries his date of birth as October 2, 1969 and his name as A. Ndubuisi Nkwuka Nwabudike; and
His application for marriage certificate dated January 22, 1992, filled by himself in handwriting carries his name as A. Ndubuisi Nwabudike, his date of birth as October 19, 1960 and his nationality as Nigerian;
The Bar then concluded: “In view of the information received from the Liberia Immigration Service and First Judicial Circuit, Criminal Assizes “B” that there is no record to support Cllr. Nwabudike’s claim of Liberian citizenship, the existence of information showing gross inconsistency in his dates of birth and names, as well as, the fact that in his application to the Marriage Registry, he declared in his own handwriting in 1992 that he was a Nigerian Citizen, the only valid, logical and common sense conclusion that could be reached by the Grievance and Ethics Committee was that he became a member of the Liberian National Bar Association through fraudulent means. It is a well-settled common law principle that fraud vitiates everything.”
