In 2007, across the Atlantic, the Supreme Court of Georgia delivered a quiet ruling that would have shaken most political careers in any country that prizes ethical leadership.
The case was In the Matter of Femi Gbaja (S07Y0991) — a lawyer suspended for thirty-six months after admitting to professional misconduct involving client funds.
That name — “Femi Gbaja” — would later reappear in Nigeria with a longer suffix and a louder title: Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives (2019–2023) and now Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
A Quiet Suspension in Georgia
According to public court records, Femi Gbajabiamila was admitted to the Georgia State Bar in 2001. A few years later, he was found to have received $25,000 from a personal-injury client, deposited it into his attorney trust account, and withdrawn the funds for his own use without timely disbursement.
He did not refund the money after the client first complained. Records show that reimbursement came 6 years after only after a formal petition was filed against him before the Georgia State Bar a petition that triggered the disciplinary proceedings which would later define his professional record. Faced with the evidence, Gbaja filed a “petition for voluntary discipline,” a legal route in which a lawyer admits misconduct and accepts an agreed sanction.
On February 26, 2007, the Supreme Court of Georgia accepted that petition and ordered a 36-month suspension from legal practice. The ruling cited breaches of Rule 1.15(1) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct (handlingm client property) and Bar Rule 4-102(d). It was a professional wound that, in jurisdictions with stricter ethical memory, might have ended a public career before it began.
A Swift Political Rebirth
But long before that suspension became public knowledge, Femi Gbajabiamila had left the United States. In 2003, he emerged in Lagos politics and won election to the House of Representatives, representing Surulere I Federal Constituency.
From there, his rise was steady and strategic — Minority Leader, Majority Leader, Speaker, and finally Chief of Staff to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
No record shows that the ethical blot from Georgia was ever formally disclosed to Nigeria’s electoral authorities or to the public during his campaigns. Instead, the story surfaced years later through investigative reports, sparking questions that were never officially addressed.
The Constitutional Question
Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended) sets a high bar for moral fitness in public office.
Section 137(1)(e) provides that a person is not qualified to be elected President if “he has been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a judicial or administrative panel or tribunal.”
By implication and moral extension, the same ethical expectation undergirds all elective and appointive offices, since lawmakers and executives are sworn to uphold the same Constitution.
A professional disciplinary sanction abroad, particularly one involving the misuse of client funds, may not constitute a criminal conviction under Nigerian law, but it falls squarely within the realm of moral and ethical unfitness that Section 137 was designed to prevent.
The framers of that provision envisioned a public service guided by trust — where anyone once found guilty of financial or ethical misconduct would not wield the power to make laws or administer national affairs.
When Morality Yields to Power
Gbajabiamila’s case illustrates a troubling national habit: the quiet rehabilitation of moral infractions when the offender is powerful enough.
In other democracies, a lawyer suspended for mishandling a client’s funds would struggle to pass vetting for even minor public office. In Nigeria, the same person can become the custodian of legislative ethics, presiding over debates on anti-corruption bills and codes of conduct.
It is not simply a legal question; it is a moral mirror reflecting how Nigeria rewards impunity.
What the Episode Says About Us
The issue here is larger than one man’s record. It is about how easily the Nigerian system absorbs moral compromise, and how quickly public memory fades when ambition is packaged as competence.
Femi Gbajabiamila’s career trajectory from a suspended lawyer in Georgia to one of the most powerful men in Abuja — underscores a national weakness: our institutions vet documents, not character.
Electoral forms may require school certificates and tax clearances, but rarely demand a full ethical history. Political godfathers, not integrity panels, determine who climbs.
A Call for Ethical Reform
If Nigeria’s democracy must mature, it must learn to distinguish brilliance from integrity, and power from probity. The National Assembly that Gbajabiamila once led should itself revisit the Constitution’s moral qualifications for office, extending them clearly to foreign disciplinary records and professional misconduct.
Public service must not be a sanctuary for those who failed ethical tests elsewhere.
Conclusion
The 2007 Georgia ruling remains a matter of record — unambiguous, factual, and damning. That the same individual could later lead Nigeria’s legislature and now serve as the President’s Chief of Staff is not just a personal contradiction; it is a national indictment.
Until Nigeria learns to connect ethical history with public trust, we will continue to be governed by men who outran their past, not overcame it.In the end, the story of Femi Gbajabiamila is not merely about one man’s suspension — it is about a nation’s suspension of standards.
Opinion: Mr. Ovi Joe
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