By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA—A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Ebele Nwokoye, has been conferred with the Blue Silk rank, an honour introduced as an alternative to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title for non-litigation lawyers in Nigeria.
The introduction of the title had been the subject of a legal battle between the NBA and promoters of the rank, the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP).
Both the NBA and the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, had opposed the introduction of the “Blue Silks,” describing the title as illegal.
Likewise, the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) disowned the Blue Silk title, insisting that the rank of SAN remained the highest mark of professional distinction for legal practitioners in the country.
Maintaining that the “Blue Silk” rank has no statutory backing, the LPPC warned that its use could amount to a violation of the provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2023.
However, the award of the rank to a former President of the NBA appears to be a major twist in the controversy.
Nwokoye, who served as NBA President from 1985 to 1987, was conferred with the Blue Silk rank on Tuesday at an event in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
He was also conferred with the title of National Patron of the Body of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (BOSCON).
BOSCON is the body responsible for the assessment and conferment of candidates who apply for the Blue Silk rank.
Unlike the rank of SAN, whose major criterion is the submission of evidence of courtroom litigation by candidates, the criteria for the Blue Silk rank require candidates to submit not less than 35 verifiable non-litigation transactions, as well as hold a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree for not less than ten years.
Reacting to the development in a statement, the Executive Secretary of ALDRAP, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, noted that September 15, 2026, will be remembered in the history of the Nigerian legal profession as the date the Blue Silk rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (SCN) secured a double victory.
“The conferment of the Blue Silks-SCN upon the former President of the NBA, Chief Nwokoye, is a significant victory, considering that the immediate past leadership of the NBA launched an unsuccessful attack against the Blue Silks-SCN at its inception in 2025.
“Instead of filing a lawsuit in a court of law, the Mazi Afam Osigwe-led regime of the NBA unsuccessfully tried to use illegal methods to stop the maiden investiture ceremony, which was held at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on 15th December 2025.
“Without any court order, the Mazi Afam Osigwe-led NBA regime mobilised police officers and other officials of the National Assembly (including the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr Kamoru Ogunlana, Esq.) to deny entry into the hall at the Senate building of the National Assembly, where the investiture ceremony was originally scheduled to hold.
“All the aforementioned illegal methods and the resort to self-help, instead of recourse to a court of law, by the Mazi Afam Osigwe-led regime of the NBA are what the Supreme Court of Nigeria condemned in its landmark judgment in Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu (1986) 1 Nigerian Weekly Law Reports (NWLR) (Pt. 18) 621.
“It must be noted that all these illegal methods were deployed by the Mazi Afam Osigwe-led regime of the NBA even after they were officially informed that the promoters of the Blue Silks-SCN had filed a lawsuit against the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking an order of injunction against the NBA’s interference with the Blue Silks-SCN.
“Ironically, the same Mazi Afam Osigwe-led regime of the NBA immediately raised the alarm and relied on the defence that the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA is an independent legal entity that cannot allow external interference from the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. This was the same defence raised by Mazi Afam Osigwe during the July 2026 election of the National Officers of the NBA,” he stated.
Continuing, Jaja noted that the period within which the NBA could appeal the Abuja Federal High Court judgment affirming the conferment of the Blue Silks has passed.
“The second part of the victory is that the time prescribed for the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to file its appeal has elapsed, and the NBA has failed to file any appeal against the said judgment, which validates the Blue Silks-SCN.
“The judgment was delivered on 27th January 2026 by Hon. Justice Mohammed Umar Garba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Suit Number FHC/ABJ/CS/1238/2025,” he added.
According to him, the judgment prohibited the NBA, and by extension the LPPC, from attempting to regulate the Blue Silk rank and any other matters not expressly mentioned in the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962.
“The NBA, who were parties in the said lawsuit, failed to appeal that judgment. Therefore, it remains the binding judgment,” Jaja said, noting that instead of appealing, the NBA is relying on another judgment by a different judge of the same Federal High Court, Abuja, which has itself been appealed.
He insisted that the Blue Silk title, introduced as an alternative to the rank of SAN, is a legally recognised route to legal excellence for non-litigation lawyers in the country.
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