“A Despicable Abuse Of Court Process” — LPDC Suspends Idris Thany For 2yrs, Admonishes Sister Khadijah In Consent Judgment Misconduct Case

The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has suspended Idris K. Thany, Esq., immediate past Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikorodu Branch, Lagos State, from legal practice for a period of two years after finding him guilty of infamous professional misconduct.

In a final direction delivered on September 15, 2025, the Committee ruled that Thany manipulated court processes to frustrate the enforcement of a consent judgment in a protracted land dispute involving the Elepe family of Ikorodu. His sister, Khadijah Abolanle Thany, Esq., was also found complicit but escaped suspension after admitting she was misled by her brother, receiving instead a formal admonition to be of good conduct.

The matter arose from Suit No: IKD/M/26/2010 – Rafiu Shonoiki Sholesi & Ors v. Oyedeko Olorunwo Ladejobi & Ors, where the Elepe family secured a consent judgment before Justice Savage of the Lagos State High Court on March 26, 2014.

When the family sought to enforce the judgment, Thany was accused of frustrating the process. In November 2017, a motion was filed seeking to set aside the judgment. The motion carried the name, signature, stamp, and seal of his sister Khadijah.

Although Idris denied responsibility, claiming Khadijah acted independently as an associate in his law firm, Khadijah told the Committee that she had been deceived. She testified that she neither prepared the motion nor met the client involved, and that she was never paid. According to her, Idris drafted the motion himself, inserted his own email address, and used her as a front to shield himself from contempt proceedings arising from his role in the case.

The Committee, chaired by Ahmed Mustapha Goniri (Life Bencher) with members including Justices Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik and Halima Mohammed, as well as SANs Umeh Kalu and Dr. Garba Tetengi, found Idris’s conduct “despicable, condemnable, and unbecoming of a legal practitioner.”

Although the allegation that Idris mobilised thugs to block enforcement of the judgment could not be proven, the LPDC held that his use of his sister to file a fraudulent motion amounted to a serious abuse of court process and a violation of Rules 1, 27, and 30 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023.

The panel noted that the legal profession is “a humble and conservative calling, not a platform for arrogance or selfish ends,” and stressed that Idris’s manipulation undermined the administration of justice.

Khadijah, though guilty of professional lapses, was praised for her courage in admitting the truth, with the Committee acknowledging that her testimony enabled it to reach a just conclusion.

The LPDC directed that Idris K. Thany, with enrolment number SCN056259, be suspended from practice for two years effective September 15, 2025. His sister, Khadijah Abolanle Thany, with enrolment number SCN079509, was formally admonished.

The Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court has been instructed to note the suspension against Idris’s name on the Roll of Legal Practitioners. The direction will also be published in the Federal Gazette and in The Punch newspaper, with notices sent to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, heads of superior courts, state Attorneys-General, and the Inspector-General of Police.