After granting him his Liberian Citizenship by Civil Law Court "B" in Liberia, Cllr. Austin Ndubuisi Nwabudike's next move has met the bottleneck with the higher court holding his approval. The Supreme Court of Liberia is yet to honor the Liberian Citizenship recently granted to him.
On February 9, 2023, Civil Law Court "B" granted Nwabudike Liberian Citizenship, after a year of controversy. But prior to that, he has been under sharp criticism from some lawyers, especially Cllr. Augustine Toe, urging various courts to prosecute him for lying.
On February 20, 2023, Nwabudike wrote the nation's highest court to restore his counsel-at-law title to enable him to continue his legal practice at the Supreme Court which is in compliance with the Supreme Court's mandate to follow all of the legal processes relating to obtaining Liberian citizenship.
Nwabudike also informed the court in his communication that he had complied with the high court's mandate and has taken the oath of allegiance administered to him.
But the High Court in its response to Nwabudike's Communication noted that the acquisition of Liberian Citizenship does not automatically restore him as a counsel-at-law, as the application needed to be filed before the full bench for the restoration status of his counselor of the Supreme Court Bar.
The high court noted that Nwabudike is not a lawyer in the Liberian Jurisdiction as provided for in Chapter 17, Section 17.6 of the Judiciary Law of Liberia.
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This latest decision of the Supreme Court was contained in a letter to Ndubuisi Nwabudike under the signature of its Clerk Sam Mamalu.
As the final arbiter of justice, the latest decision of the Supreme Court puts Nwabudike in a rather troubling position as it is reported that he has applied as one of the seven Commissioners to serve the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), an institution he once served as Chairman.
It is believed that Nwabudike's name is allegedly among six other Liberian Legal Practitioners who applied to be LACC's new Chairman, including Cllr. Lamii Kpargoi, Cllr. Abraham Sillah, Cllr. Denise Sokan, Cllr. Frederick Gbemie, Cllr. Joel Elkanah Thoeway while fourteen lawyers and non-lawyers were shortlisted to be Commissioners.
The recently enacted LACC's act calls for the application of all seven members of the commission, one of whom will be the Chairman of that institution.
It can be recalled that Cllr. Nwabudike relinquished power at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission in 2021, after his nomination to head the National Elections Commission, something which led to his trouble.
