The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) has shortlisted 130 candidates for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) for the year 2021. The Acting Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Secretary of the LPPC, Hajo Bello, said the shortlisted candidates emerged from both the advocate filtration stages and academic pre-qualification exercise “preparatory to the award of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria for the year 2021.”
In 2020, the committee shortlisted the highest number of lawyers to be nominated so far – 137.
According to the breakdown of the 130 shortlisted for the year 2021, 95 are of the Advocate category, while the remaining 35 are of the Academic category.
The Advocate category includes; Offia Ota, Nwafor-Orizu Orji, Adeniyi Ademuyiwa, Ovrawah Ogaga, Abubakar Adamu, and West-Idahosa Ehiogie, among others.
In the academic category are; This Day Law Page Editor, Onikepo Braithwaite, Professor Oyewo Toriola, Professor Omorogbe Osayame, Dr Okafor Ebelechukwu, Professor Sholanke Olusegun, Ojukwu Okechukwu, and Dr Agbonika Achor were shortlisted among others.
Bello, however, informed the public that they are at liberty to comment on the integrity, reputation, and competence of the shortlisted candidates.
The Acting CR said, “However, any complaint(s) presented to the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee must be accompanied with a verifying affidavit deposed to before a court of record.
“Please be informed that about paragraph 12(2) of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee Guidelines 2018, 12 copies of such comments or complaints must be received at the office of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee not later than 4 pm on Tuesday, September 28, 2021.”