Monrovia – Suspended Vice President of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, Cllr. Micah Wilkins Wright has filed a suit against the Government of Liberia, the Judicial Council of ECOWAS and the ECOWAS Commission for what he refers to as the wanton, arbitrary and callous violation of his right to a fair hearing consistent with international human rights law.

Report by Lennart Dodoo –  ldodoo@frontpageafricaonline.com

FrontPageAfrica has also gathered from a very prestigious source that His Honor Yussif D. Kaba, Resident Circuit Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Montserrado County, has been tipped to be appointed Judge of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice as the replacement for Justice Wright, who was recently suspended by the Supreme Court of Liberia for allegedly committing conflict of interest in 2009 while he served as Liberia’s Solicitor General. Upon being suspended in his native Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote ECOWAS requesting the recall and replacement of Justice Wright.

Reports have it that Judge Kaba will be presented to the Judicial Council by the Liberian Government and in that same session confirmed by the ECOWAS Judicial Council during their up-coming meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on next Friday, April 07, 2017.

The reports also say that Justice Wright will not be present during the meeting even though the case for his removal and replacement is being investigated by the Judicial Council at the request of the Liberian Government.

The source who spoke on the basis of anonymity, said that the President of the ECOWAS Commission has already written a letter to Liberia’s President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is also the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, recommending to her that by selecting Judge Kaba, it would be easier to remove and replace Justice Wright without going through a new process of recruitment.

The reports say the Commission’s President’s recommendation was based on the fact that when Justice Wright was appointed in 2014, both he and Judge Kaba had earlier appeared before the Judicial Council as candidates and were interviewed for the job and both of them passed the interview but Justice Wright was selected ahead of Judge Kaba because Justice Wright scored a higher grade on the interview and also had a longer experience record and also he was older in age.

Wright’s legal action against the Government of Liberia grew out of a ruling from the Supreme Court in which his law license was suspended for a period of one year for ethical transgression.

In February 2017, the Supreme Court of Liberia found Wright liable of breaching Rules 8 & 9 the Moral and Ethical Conduct of Lawyers. He allegedly obscured his lawyer-client relationship with a former client while representing the government against the same client in his capacity as Solicitor General of the Republic.

Justice Wright, while pleading on behalf of the Government of Liberia as Solicitor General, concealed his relationship with his former client, FIDC/Sochor, when at the time, he conceded to a US$15.9 million fraudulent judgment against the Government of Liberia, the Supreme Court opined.

Rule 8: “It is the duty of the lawyer at the time of retainer to disclose to the client all of the circumstances of his relations to the parties if there be any and any interest in or connection with the controversy, which might influence the client in the selection of the counsel. It is unprofessional to represent conflicting interests.”

“Rule 9”: “Within the meaning of this rule, a lawyer represents conflicting interests when, on behalf of one client, it is his duty to contend for that which duty to another client requires him to oppose.

The obligation to represent the client with undivided fidelity, and not to divulge his secrets or confidences, forbids also the subsequent acceptance of retainers or employment from others in matters adversely affecting any interest of the client with respect to which confidence has been reposed.”

However, Justice Wright in his complaint stated that the Supreme Court of Liberia rendered such judgment without informing him of any pending litigation against him.

He noted that before and within the period of his statutory appointment as a judge at the Community Court of Justice and ECOWAS, he has not exhibited any act contrary to the professional ethics of the legal profession.

The complaint:  “Even if there had been such a complaint for ethical misconduct against Justice Wright, a natural justice demands that a lawyer accused of ethical misconduct would be served copy of the complaint and given the opportunity to defend himself and confront his accusers in a hearing before the Grievance and Ethics Committee of the Liberian National Bar Association, whose findings and report would then become the subject of a hearing before the Supreme Court of Liberia, and upon which a decision would be based.”

The complaint further asserted that Wright cannot be condemned without being given the opportunity to defend himself.

“And this is so because the Supreme Court itself cannot take evidence in an investigation but will review the report growing out of such investigation, but there was no such opportunity given to Justice Wright to appear and put in a defense.

There was no evidence that Justice Wright was ever summoned for such investigation; as such Justice Wright puts the Government of Liberia to strictest proof of his even being served with process of any kind to appear before the Grievance and Ethics Committee or any other investigating body for any investigation, and he challenges them to produce the records of such hearing.

“Accordingly, it was grossly improper, highly irregular and seriously prejudicial to Justice Wright for the Supreme Court to have initiated suo moto, as opposed to judgment to a review, a disciplinary proceeding against the Applicant and entered judgment suspending Justice Wright where such original powers lie only in the Grievance and Ethics Committee.”

The complaint noted that immediately after imposing such “harsh punishment” on Wright, the Supreme Court expeditiously issued a press release on the same day which was published in several local dailies and on the internet.

The publications, which Wright believes was sponsored by the Government of Liberia, according to him, was intended to assassinate his character and reputation which is in violation of his right to dignity as recognized and guaranteed by the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

He added that the “viral state-sponsored” publication of the judgment in the print and electronic media has eroded public trust and confidence in his person; as he is also of being castigated by parties before the Court of Justice of ECOWAS and organs of the Community have already persecuted him as a result of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Liberia.

Withdrawn From The Court

The complaint disclosed that upon the viral publication of his suspension, the Government of Liberia wrote a letter to the President of the ECOWAS Commission informing the President of the Commission of Wright’s suspension, requesting that he immediately be recalled from his position of a Judge of the ECOWAS Community Court and replaced by another Liberian Judge.

According to him, the letter from the Liberian Government was received by the President of the ECOWAS Commission and was immediately forwarded to ECOWAS Judicial Council to commence disciplinary proceedings against him.

The Judicial Council is set to commence proceeding in the matter on April 7, 2017, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

But Wright argues that the Council is about to commence a disciplinary proceeding on the basis of a judgment that sanctioned him, where he was never officially a party, neither was he officially served any legal/judicial process informing him of a case against him nor was he given the opportunity to defend himself.

He noted that without receiving any official notice of his suspension from work as a judge or of the commencement of any disciplinary procedure against him by the Judicial Council, he was prevented by the President of the ECOWAS Commission from traveling to Luxembourg as part of the Anglophone and Lusophone delegation on a study tour of the European Court of Justice from March 11-18, 2017.

“This action by the Commission’s President gives the appearance as if the Applicant has already been adjudged guilty by the Judicial Council and dismissed from the Court,” the complaint noted.

Onitsha, Nigeria – Justice Micah Wilkins Wright has urged his compatriots throughout Nigeria to foster patriotism and unity.

A dispatch from the Liberian Embassy in Nigeria says the experienced justice made the assertions when he served as the keynote speaker during the Second National Convention of the Organization of Liberian Communities in Nigeria over the weekend in the eastern Nigerian city of Onitsha in Anambra State.

Liberians from across Nigeria also used that event to observe their country’s 169^th Independence Day which formally fell on July 26.

Justice Wright who is also the Vice President of the Abuja-based ECOWAS Court of Justice stated, “I come to you today merely to hold a family conversation with you and not with a speech in Greek Philosophy or in the art and mastery of great oratory rhetoric. Rather, I come with a very simple message: unity.”

The former Liberian solicitor general who joined hundreds of other Liberians from across the Nigerian Federation in making the long travel to Eastern Nigeria used the occasion to urge his compatriots living in another country to govern themselves accordingly “as not to bring about any dishonor or disgrace or embarrassment to the name of our country, Mama Liberia.”

“We must conduct ourselves in a way as to portray us as people who mean business and are serious about moving our Liberian Community in Nigeria forward”, he stated.

About 300 Liberians from various Nigerian states conveyed on Onitsha and elected their first code of national officers after they had adopted a constitution. 

Mr. Daoda Kanneh, based in Niger State, was elected as the association’s first National President during an electoral process spearheaded by Mr. Archie A.A. Delaney, Sr, an international Liberian electoral consultant to Nigeria’s Independent National Elections Commission (INEC).

Others elected were Mr. Garrison A.D. Thomas, National Secretary General (of Abuja), Ms. Fatu Thomas, National Vice President for Gender and Social Welfare (of Lagos State), Ms. Miatta Haggans, National Treasurer (of Kaduna State), Mr. Edwin Taylor, National Public Relations Officer (of Ogun State) and Pastor Derrick Chea, National Religious Officer (of Plateau State).

Regarding the elections, Justice Wright urged those who contested for and were elected to various offices or positions to not entertain the ambition of occupying position just for the sake of it:

“We must be prepared to render sacrificial services to our compatriots, and not see ourselves as lords over the very people who elected us. How we manage our offices and execute our duties and functions will be a representation and a microcosm of what we would do if we were in Liberia during this highly politically charged period.”

At the same time, Justice Wright appealed to Liberians in Nigeria to see the Liberian Embassy as an active partner as the Embassy performs its consular and other functions to protect and seek the interest and welfare of all Liberians in Nigeria:

“For doing their best to protect and serve Liberians under difficult conditions, we, and I personally, congratulate the Embassy Staff, led by our illustrious Ambassador, Dr. Professor Al-Hassan Conteh.”

The seasoned Liberian lawyer also paid homage to Chief Cliff O. Nzeruem, former Liberian Honorary Consul in Lagos and now Protocol Attaché of the Liberian Embassy.

He continued: “It is my information that Chief Cliff has stood with Liberia and stood by Liberians through thick and thin when others of us were not available. I understand he played a major role in trying to get Liberians together for the welfare of all Liberians in Nigeria.

Therefore, and without offending any of our sensibilities and personal egos, I want to, in this public manner, congratulate and commend Chief Cliff for his selfless, outstanding and fatherly role played in touching the lives of so many Liberians here in Nigeria”.

At the same time, the newly elected president, Mr. Kanneh, in his victory speech remarked, “This is a responsibility that I do not take lightly, and I will endeavor to represent you with the utmost transparency and boldness”.

Also on hand to grace the occasion upon the special invitation of Press and Public Affairs Counselor Nat Bayjay was Bahn B. Geezay, popularly known as ‘Wedigar’.

The Onitsha Convention, the second after the inaugural Lagos Convention held in late February of the year, brought together delegates from Kano, Kaduna, and Plateau States as well as the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) all grouped as the Northern Region.

Others came from Ogun and Lagos States, grouped as the Western Region. The Eastern Region, constituting the hosts of Anambra, Enugu, Delta, Imo, Abia, Cross River and River States, also had their delegates on hand.