Nigeria Content Online

Members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and
the Supreme Court yesterday clashed, after the court barred NBA President,
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and
Minister of Justice, Muhammed Bello Adoke, from making speeches at the
swearing-in of new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN).

The drama this time

The incident started when the Chief Registrar of the Supreme
Court, Usman Alhaji Musale, told the gathering that only the Chief Justice of
Nigeria (CJN) Aloysius Katsina-Alu, and the representative of the newly
sworn-in SANs, could make speeches.

The NBA president protested immediately, saying that it was not
part of the tradition and that the invitation he got showed that he and the
minister were to speak at the event. Mr. Akeredolu said if there were any
changes in the programme, the court ought to have notified him beforehand.
However, Supreme Court Justice Dahiru Mustapha said anybody who was not
comfortable with the arrangement should walk out.

The NBA president attempted to leave the venue, but was
prevented from doing so by his colleagues. To register his protest, he refused
to collect the CJN’s speech.

After the swearing-in, Mr. Akeredolu led a delegation to the
office of the CJN, whom NEXT learnt apologised to the president, saying that
there was a mix-up at the event. Mr. Mustapha also apologised for his utterances.

However, Kayode Ajulo, lawyer and chairman of the Egalitarian
Mission Africa, in a terse text message to NEXT, said “what happened today has
never happened in the history of the legal profession in Nigeria. It will be
unfortunate if speeches should be censored by the very institution that ought
to spearhead expansion of the scope of freedom.” He called the day, “a black
Monday” for the legal profession,

But in a phone conversation with NEXT, Mr. Akeredolu said what
happened was the result of an innocent mistake. “It has nothing to do with my
own speech as the Attorney General and the body representing the body of the
SAN were also denied from giving a speech,” he said. “It is an innocent mistake
that I hope will not be repeated next time.”

He further added that the justices “did not robe to come to the
court; they just wanted to roll the event into the new legal year.”

Unconfirmed reports have it that Mr. Akeredolu was asked to
delete some statements from his speech and the cancellation came when he declined.

The cancelled speech

In the aborted speech made available to NEXT, Mr. Akeredolu said
the award of the privileges to wear silk entails a strict adherence to merit in
everything. He said that the criteria must be such that practitioners can safely
assert that certain applicants merit the award. A situation where it seems that
only juniors in the chambers of certain influential people are successful once
they apply, calls for serious review, he said.

“It is worth reiterating the fact that any measure put in place
to select from among the best, those who come forward for recognition must be
transparent,” the NBA president’s speech read.

In the speech, Mr. Akeredolu mentioned recent calls to scrap the
SAN title by parties who are genuinely aggrieved by the current state of
things. The NBA president also suggested to the CJN the need for the
convocation of a meeting of all stake holders with a view to resolving the
issues.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu however said
the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) should be retained in spite of
criticisms trailing the selection process.

“While it may be true that some of the criticisms of the process
of conferment have been sired by the sour grapes, we must admit that the
process of the exercise of any power cannot be immune to error.” Mr Katsina-Alu
said that to improve this, a committee had been set up to review and improve
the selection process, adding that there had been two reviews in the last five
years.

New SANs

Mr. Musale, the Supreme Court’s chief registrar, said the
Privileges Committee, the body charged with the responsibility of appointing
Senior Advocates of Nigeria and led by Justice Katsina-Alu, met in Abuja about
two months ago to consider the applications for 2009.

According to him, a total of 126 people applied for the rank. Of
these, 19 were academics while 107 were legal practitioners. The committee
accepted 19 applications – in accordance with the guidelines for the conferment
of the rank. The accepted applicants were sworn in yesterday.

They include Mike Ozekhome, Nella Andem-Ewa, Joseph A. Nwobika, Offiong
Effiong Bassey, Sylvia Shinaba, Dorothy Udeme Ufot, Francis Dike, Chukwuma
Uchenna Ekomaru, Arthur Obi Okafor, Etigwa Owa, Jadegoke Adebanjo Badejo,
Abiodun Ishola Layonu, Adekunle Babatunde Ogunba, George Oguntade, C. O. Toyin
Pinheiro, Olusina R. Sofola, Samuel Mosugu, Andrew I. Chukwuemerie and Fabian
Ikenna Ajogwu.