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By Ise-Oluwa Ige & Abdulwahab Abdulah

ABUJA—The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, Thursday, suspended the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, from using the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Mr. Sunday Olorundahunsi, who disclosed this yesterday to newsmen, said the committee’s decision was taken after due consideration of Aondoakaa’s response to a petition written against him by the Committee for the Defence of Human Right, CDHR.

*Aondoakaa

But details of the complaints against him were not clear yesterday as at press time as the Chief Registrar was reluctant to release the information.

But in a statement made available to newsmen, he said “the committee after due consideration of the said response, has decided in its wisdom to suspend him from the use of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and all other privileges attached to that rank, pending the outcome of the investigation by the Sub-committee set up by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC.

In its letter dated July 13, 2010, addressed to the Secretary, Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, CDHR, President, Mr Olasupo Ojo, listed eight-point offences allegedly committed by the former Attorney General while he held sway in the Federal Ministry of Justice.

According to CDHR, Chief Aondoakaa, among other things, “targeted anti-corruption agencies and took over the statutory prosecutory powers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission , EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, and Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, contrary to law, public interest and the interest of justice.

The Committee listed cases where charges were withdrawn by the Minister against those facing criminal charges, using his office, without reasons adduced to the said withdrawal.

In the petition, Aondoakaa was also alleged to have refused to sign a request under the “mutual legal assistance treaty” since August 2007 as requested by the crown prosecution service in order to frustrate corrupt charges pending against former Governor James Onanefe Ibori and 3 others, and his refusal to approve the request made by the metropolitan police to allow some EFCC