By Grace Q. Bryant
The Judge of Civil Law Court, Kennedy Peabody has reserved ruling in the ongoing case between LACC Boss Ndubuisi Nwabudike and the Liberian National Bar Association.
The Judge’s decision on Tuesday, September 29, the counsel for Cllr. Nwabudike argued that in keeping with the Law and practice oral with age in this jurisdiction in motion to dismiss takes precedent over all other motions.
According to them, the LNBA filed a motion to dismiss which questioned the jurisdiction of the court to hear the petition for juridical review.
“This court must first pass unto the jurisdiction issue prior to hearing the motion to vacate; however our request that the motion to dismiss be heard first,” counsel respondent said.
In response to the argument, one counsel representing the LNBA said while the motion to dismiss disposes of the entire action if granted, the motion for preliminary injunction is an ancillary action which has time limitations if said time limitations have not been made permanent.
“The said petition for the writ for preliminary injunction being temporary expired ten days after its issuance, therefore this action for judicial review was filed over a period of more than one month which was subsequently followed by a writ of preliminary injunction and the respondent/ movant filed an indomitable bond, with returns and motion to vacate the preliminary injunction on August 3, ” LNBA said. 
Cllr. Nwabudike
According to the Court, “Our law provides that whenever a preliminary injunction is filled, in order to vacate same, the restrained party should file a motion to vacate which motion serves as a resistance to the motion for preliminary injunction.
The court added that when a motion to vacate traverse issue raised in the motion for preliminary injunction, it does not serve as a separate motion per say, that raises new issues therefore, the request to consolidate is denied.
Questions over the nationality of the man that President George Weah controversially nominated to be the Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC) are no longer of essence as his fate has been decided by the final arbiter of justice, the Supreme Court of Liberia, with no hope of him retaining his alleged Liberian citizenship, if he ever had one.
The embattled Cllr. Ndubusi Nwabudike, who could not authenticate his claims to Liberian nationality which he said he acquired in the early 1980s, was dealt a major blow when the Supreme Court decided not to act on his expulsion from the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA).
Justice-In-Chamber, Associate Justice Jamesetta Wolokollie, on Friday, July 24, declined to issue an Alternative Writ of Prohibition seeking to prevent Nwabudike’s expulsion from the Bar following her July 23, 2020 legal conference between the party lawyers in the chamber of the Supreme Court.
It can be recalled that in March of this year, the President of the LNBA, Cllr. Tiawan S. Gongloe, wrote the Bar’s Grievance and Ethics Committee to investigate reports of Cllr. Nwabudike having faked his Liberian citizenship. Only Liberian citizens (whether native or naturalized) can be admitted to the LNBA. In the case of Nwabudike, who was born in Nigeria to Nigerian parents who migrated to Liberia, he violated the Bar’s requirements for admission through the use of falsified documents to pose as a naturalized Liberian citizen. This, the LNBA believes, is an egregious ethical transgression warranting expulsion.
The expelled member of the LNBA lied under oath about his citizenship during confirmation hearing at the Liberian Senate when he was nominated by President Weah to the helm of the NEC.
Cllr. Nwabudike being grilled by the Senate during his confirmation hearing following his NEC’s nomination few months ago during the Senate hearing, Cllr. Nwabudike provided conflicting information about his Liberian nationality, which he said he obtained at age 17, through the Liberian Constitution only provides such status at the age of maturity, 18.
The Nigerian national also lied about his date of birth, as four different essential documents had four different dates of birth. These embarrassing revelations, the LNBA President noted, hangs a dark cloud over the hard-earned integrity of the legal profession in Liberia and it led to the Bar association expelling Cllr. Nwabudike.
The NEC, which the Nigerian Lawyer was poised to head if his nomination were confirmed, is one of Liberia’s key integrity institutions, charged with the constitutional authority of conducting elections for Legislative, Presidential and other statutory elected positions in the Liberian government. According to the Constitution, the NEC should be chaired by a Liberian citizen.