By Emmanuel Kwada
A stunning revelation has rocked Nigeria’s political landscape as documents unearthed by Peoples Gazette and corroborated by multiple sources confirm that Senator Neda Imasuen, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions, was permanently disbarred from practicing law in New York in 2010 due to fraud and gross misconduct.
The disclosure comes just days after Imasuen led the charge to suspend Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, a decision that has ignited widespread criticism and accusations of hypocrisy.
Imasuen, who currently represents Edo South under the Labour Party, faced disbarment in the United States following allegations that he collected millions of dollars in legal fees from a client, Daphne Shyfield, in 2009, only to abandon her case without providing representation.
Imasuen failed to respond to multiple petitions and ignored disciplinary investigations, leading to a ruling on May 10, 2010, that stripped him of his law license
Court records from the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts reveal that Imasuen failed to respond to multiple petitions and ignored disciplinary investigations, leading to a ruling on May 10, 2010, that stripped him of his law license.
The order explicitly commanded him to cease all legal practice and barred him from appearing before any U.S. court or authority.
The irony of Imasuen’s past has not been lost on observers, given his current role as the head of the Senate Ethics Committee—a position tasked with upholding integrity and accountability among Nigeria’s lawmakers. His committee’s recent recommendation to suspend Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has drawn intense scrutiny, with critics arguing that a man with such a tainted history should not be policing the conduct of others.
The suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan stemmed from a series of contentious events, including her allegations of sexual harassment against Senate President Godswill Akpabio and her refusal to accept a reassigned seat in the Senate chamber.
Imasuen’s committee dismissed her harassment petition as procedurally flawed, citing Senate rules that prohibit self-signed petitions, before swiftly moving to suspend her for “bringing the Senate into disrepute.”
The decision, announced on March 6, 2025, also mandated that her office be locked and her salary and security details withdrawn during the six-month period.
He collected millions of dollars in legal fees from a client, Daphne Shyfield, in 2009, only to abandon her case without providing representation
Akpoti-Uduaghan, undeterred by her suspension, has continued to fight back. On March 7, she resubmitted a harassment petition on behalf of her constituents, which was again referred to Imasuen’s committee for review. Her allies argue that the suspension is a politically motivated attempt to silence a vocal critic of the Senate leadership, particularly Akpabio, who has denied all allegations against him.
Imasuen, for his part, has remained silent on the revelations about his disbarment. His journey from a disgraced attorney in New York to a Nigerian senator began after he reportedly left the U.S. following his legal troubles. Elected in 2023, he leveraged the Labour Party’s rising popularity to secure his seat, later ascending to the ethics chairmanship—a role now mired in controversy.
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