‘HOW MY SIGNATURE WAS FORGED FOR INEC, BVAS LAWSUIT,’ BY LAWYER

• SAYS ‘MY COLLEAGUE HAS APOLOGIZED TO ME, BUT ….’

• LAWYER SAYS IT IS A ‘MISPLACEMENT’

The lawyer in the middle of the controversial lawsuit filed at Federal High Court, Owerri to stop electronic transmission of results and use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has told CITY LAWYER that the lawyer who actually filed the lawsuit “forged” her signature on the court documents.

According to Onyinyechi Joy Abazie, an Owerri based lawyer, the lawyer has also apologized over the incident.

Restating her earlier disclaimer concerning the lawsuit, Abazie who said that she is a “junior lawyer” in the Law Office of CK Mgbekonye & Co., Shekinah Chambers of No. 9 Egbu Road, Owerri, told CITY LAWYER that “I want to use this opportunity to further disclaim that I did not file any suit in Federal High Court, Owerri against INEC or Professor Mahmood Yakubu.”

She said that the suit “was filed in my name and without my consent by Blessing B. Mike Iwuajunwa, Esquire.”

Giving details on how her Nigerian Bar Association issued official stamp got on the court document, Abazie said: “She (Iwuajunwa) called me from my our own office at No. 9 Egbu Road, Owerri while I was in Lagos during the NBA National Conference, requesting that I give her two of my (NBA) seals.

“I asked her what she needed to do with my seal; being a senior lawyer, at least she can afford to pay for any quantity that she wants. And she said she bought a landed property in her name, that she doesn’t want to be the donee and also the maker of the Power of Attorney.

“I said OK, no problem. Give any of our secretaries phone. She gave one of our secretaries Chinyere phone. And I instructed Chinyere where she would collect my seal from and give this my learned senior – which Chinyere did.

“My learned senior left and promised that we would see when I come back from the conference. I came back from the conference and called her severally for us to meet, probably for me to go through the document that she has prepared and know if it is worth signing by me or not, but due to our busy schedules we didn’t meet.

“So I travelled to the village today in preparation of my mum’s burial which is (to hold) a week today, only for me to be getting numerous calls upon calls concerning this suit that she filed in my name without my consent.

“And the most painful part of it is that she also forged my signature. This is so disheartening. I am being distracted now from the normal activities that brought me home.

“I don’t know why a senior lawyer of her kind that I respect so much, how she could descend this low to do things at my own detriment. I feel very very bad. I feel really pained now.

“She has called to apologize, but then the deed has been done.”

When CITY LAWYER asked Iwuajunwa whether she was involved in the matter, she said “No.” She accused CITY LAWYER of ‘hacking’ her telephone number, even as she kept asking: “How did you get my number?”

Iwuajunwa also said: “I just read the disclaimer you sent to me. I want to know how I am connected.” She finally stated that “there is a misplacement in the name” but did not respond to further enquiries.

CITY LAWYER had in an earlier report noted how Abazie had disowned the lawsuit, saying she does not know the plaintiff, Nwankwere Morale Chinwen.

In the controversial suit obtained by CITY LAWYER, Chinwen is urging the Federal High Court sitting in Owerri to grant “AN ORDER of injunction restraining the Defendants, whether by themselves, staff, officers, privies, or howsoever described from using or deploying the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) or any other similar device, equipment, instrument, or gadget of such or same nature for the accreditation of registered voters in the 2023 General Elections.”

The plaintiff is also seeking “AN ORDER of injunction restraining the Defendants whether by themselves, staff, officers, privies, or howsoever described from electronically transmitting, feeding or collating the results of elections at the 2023 General Elections.”

Dated August 24, 2022, the lawsuit was allegedly filed by “J. O. ABAZIE, ESQ” of Dimogbuji Chambers, 134 Wetheral Road, Owerri.

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LAWYER DISOWNS SUIT AGAINST INEC, BVAS, ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION, BLAMES COLLEAGUE

Controversy has enveloped a lawsuit reportedly filed against the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) by one “J. O. ABAZIE ESQ,” an Owerri-based lawyer.

Washing her hands off the lawsuit, Joy Abazie stated in a “Disclaimer” now trending on social media that “I do not know Nwankwere Morale Chinwen, the purported plaintiff in the Suit neither have I met him/her before. He is not my client and neither did he brief me for any matter whatsoever.”

Abazie, an Owerri-based lawyer who said that she is currently bereaved and battling over burial plans for her deceased mother, also stated that “The person behind this unfortunate act is one Blessing Iwuajunwa, Esq, a colleague in Owerri who was the only person I have given my NBA stamp since this year and she told me that she needs the stamp to prepare a land instrument owing to unavailability of her stamp.”

Continuing, Abazie added that “It is very pathetic that such sensitive suit which is likely to make or mar the future of a Nation could be filed without my consent, authority or approval.”

In the controversial suit obtained by CITY LAWYER, one Nwankwere Morale Chinwen is urging the Federal High Court sitting in Owerri to grant “AN ORDER of injunction restraining the Defendants, whether by themselves, staff, officers, privies, or howsoever described from using or deploying the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) or any other similar device, equipment, instrument, or gadget of such or same nature for the accreditation of registered voters in the 2023 General Elections.”

The plaintiff is also seeking “AN ORDER of injunction restraining the Defendants whether by themselves, staff, officers, privies, or howsoever described from electronically transmitting, feeding or collating the results of elections at the 2023 General Elections.”

Dated August 24, 2022, the lawsuit was allegedly filed by “J. O. ABAZIE, ESQ” of Dimogbuji Chambers, 134 Wetheral Road, Owerri.

Efforts by CITY LAWYER to reach both lawyers proved abortive. While Abazie’s verified telephone number was “switched off,” the telephone contact endorsed on the court process and suspected to be Iwuajunwa’s contact rang without response.

A source close to Abazie however told CITY LAWYER that she had “complained bitterly” about the matter to him, adding that she is “totally in the dark concerning the lawsuit.”

It was unclear at press time whether any date has been fixed for hearing of the lawsuit.

Below is the full text of Abazie’s disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER

My attention has just been drawn to a Suit commenced via Originating Summons filed at the Federal High Court, Owerri Judicial Division in Suit No. HOW/OW/CS/144/2022 Between NWANKWERE MORALE CHINWEN V. INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION & 1 ANOR.

I hereby state in categorical and unequivocal terms that the suit was filed without my consent. The signature on the process is not mine and my initials is O.J. Abazie, Esq. The office address on the process is also not mine.

The person behind this unfortunate act is one Blessing Iwuajunwa, Esq, a colleague in Owerri who was the only person I have given my NBA stamp since this year and she told me that she needs the stamp to prepare a land instrument owing to unavailability of her stamp.

Let it be known that I do not know Nwankwere Morale Chinwen, the purported plaintiff in the Suit neither have I met him/her before. He is not my client and neither did he brief me for any matter whatsoever.

Let it be known also that I have been preoccupied in the village with the burial preparation of my late mother for some time now.

It is very pathetic that such sensitive suit which is likely to make or mar the future of a Nation could be filed without my consent, authority or approval.

I hereby condemn such act in unequivocal terms and shall take the necessary steps to address such unprofessional conduct.

The public should therefore take note.

O.J. Abazie, Esq.

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