The petitions by the non-litigation attorneys, below the aegis of Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, and the Nigerian Law Society, NLS, adopted an earlier petition lodged earlier than the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, by Akanbi towards Executive Secretary of the NLS, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja and attorneys who have been conferred with the Blue Silks rank.
Akanbi, by advantage of his place as Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, can also be the Secretary of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, a physique which confers the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, title on attorneys within the nation.
“Specifically, Mr. Kabir Eniola Akanbi has repeatedly being in violation of Rule 33 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023, and Section 36(9) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 ever since we commenced lawsuits against him.
“Whenever any lawsuit is instituted towards any lawyer, they’re prohibited from publication of prejudicial statements earlier than the ultimate judgement of delivered.
“In disobedience to this hallowed principle of sub-judice, on 13th February and in July 2026, Mr. Kabir Eniola Akanbi in his capacity as the Secretary of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee-LPPC, published in several national newspapers prejudicial statements against Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, and the incorporated trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP).
“This is a blatant violation of each Sections 36(1), (9) and 36(12)of the Nigerian Constitution as a result of by advantage of that publication Mr. Kabir Eniola Akanbi is searching for the prosecution of Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, SCN and 13 different attorneys on the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) with out ready for closing judgment by each the Court of Appeal Abuja Division and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria respectively.
“The major issue for determination in those lawsuits is whether Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja SCN and other lawyers, members of ALDRAP and the Nigerian Law Society (NLS), do not enjoy the fundamental rights to freedom of association to confer upon themselves the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria-SCN. This is the equivalent of Fellowship of the said ALDRAP and the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) for non-litigation lawyers,” components of the petition learn.
It added that, opposite to the alleged “prejudicial” publications of each the officers of the NBA and Akanbi, “at the time of their publication, no court of law within Nigeria has delivered any judgment to proclaim that the Blue Silks rank was illegal”.
The non-litigation attorneys, within the petition, famous {that a} judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on twenty seventh January 2026, by implication, gave impetus to the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, SCN.
“In the said judgment, it was stated that the NBA and by extension the LPPC could only regulate Nigerian lawyers on matters that are specifically stated inside the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962. This means that the NBA and LPPC can regulate the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) because it is contained within the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962,” the petition added.
They additional argued that it was a gross violation of the precept of honest listening to for Akanbi to file the petition, since, by advantage of his place as Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, he’s straight or not directly a member of the LPDC.
In a separate petition, the non-litigation attorneys sought the pressing intervention of the Public Complaints Commission, PCC, “to prevent a series of acts of maladministration and administrative injustices by the actions of Mr. Kabir Eniola Akanbi, Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria who has repeatedly refused to abide by the sub-judice rule since February 2026”.
Parts of the petition learn, “We write to respectfully request the Public Complaints Commission to intervene to call Mr. Kabir Eniola Akanbi, Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, to stop the abuse of the powers conferred upon him by virtue of his office as the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“Specifically, Mr. Kabir Eniola Akanbi has repeatedly being in violation of Rule 33 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023, and Section 36(9) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 ever since we commenced lawsuits towards him.”
The petition further stated that it is on record that 72 percent of 213,000 qualified Nigerian lawyers are currently non-litigation lawyers who have chosen not to engage in full-time courtroom litigation practice. It added that since 1975, this category of lawyers have routinely been excluded from application and conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, because the criteria for conferment excludes them.
They noted that the introduction of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria was “supposed to offer a compensatory scheme for non-litigation Nigerian attorneys”.
Noting that the application for and conferment of the Blue Silks rank is a voluntary scheme, the petition added, “In December 2023, Hon. Justice Gladys Olotu of the Federal High Court Abuja delivered a judgment that acknowledged that based mostly upon Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, Nigerian attorneys are free to type associations of attorneys and register these by any names such because the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) and this freedom of affiliation doesn’t in any manner jeopardise or infringe upon the rights of the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
“This judgment is now the subject-matter of on-going litigation at the Court of Appeal. Both the NBA and Mr. Akanbi are advised to await the final judgment on these matters instead of taking extra-judicial and prejudicial statements by filing petitions against some of the same persons who are litigants against them in the courts of law.”
