National Industrial Court of Nigeria asked to stop 2026 SAN conferment exercise

An association of Nigerian non-litigation lawyers has asked the National Industrial Court of Nigeria to halt the 2026 Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, conferment exercise.

The suit is the latest development in a legal battle between the non-litigation lawyers, under the umbrella Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, and the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and its Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, over ALDRAP’s introduction of the Blue Silks rank as an alternative to the SAN title.

ALDRAP and its Executive Director, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, had asked the Abuja Federal High Court to stop the NBA and the LPPC from interfering in the conferment of the Blue Silks rank – conceived as an alternative to the SAN rank for non-litigation lawyers. ALDRAP subsequently approached the Court of Appeal after the Abuja Federal High Court, presided by Justice James Omotosho, granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining it from conferring the Blue Silks rank.

In the suit at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, dated June 25, 2026 and filed on the same date, ALDRAP argued that the release a list of 89 applicants shortlisted for conferment of the SAN rank by the LPPC was sub-judice as the matter relates to pending litigation.

The Chairman, Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC; Mr Kabir Akanbi, Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Secretary of the LPPC; and the LPPC were listed as respondents in the suit filed by ALDRAP at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria through its lawyer, M. Attah, Esq.

The non-litigation lawyers’ association is asking the National Industrial Court of Nigeria for several reliefs, including a declaration that a statement titled ‘2026 SAN Conferment Exercise Shortlisted Candidates’ released by the LPPC on June 23, 2026, is ultra vires, unconstitutional and unlawful, “having regard to the fact that the subject matter of the conferment ranks on Nigerian legal practitioners is currently sub-judice and pending before the Court of Appeal”.

The plaintiff is also seeking a declaration that the respondents, having filed an appeal in a suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/421/2026, cannot lawfully proceed to take further steps in the 2026 SAN conferment exercise pending the determination of the said appeal.

ALDRAP also asked the industrial court to declare that the current criteria for conferment of the SAN rank as contained in sections 4 and 5 of the Legal Practitioners Act 1962, and the 2023 Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, are discriminatory, contrary to Section 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, “in that they exclude other categories of law graduates, including arbitrators and mediators under the Arbitration and Mediation Act, 2023, and legislative drafting lawyers under the National Assembly Service Commission Act, 2014, who are not in active litigation practice”.

In the same vein, the court was asked to declare that the failure of the LPPC to disclose to the 89 shortlisted SAN applicants that the conferment of ranks on Nigerian lawyers is currently sub-judice constitutes material non-disclosure, fake advertising and unfair trade practice under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Act, 2018.

ALDRAP asked the National Industrial Court of Nigeria to declare that the application fee of N5 million charged by the LPPC on the 2026 SAN applicants without disclosing the sub-judicial nature of the subject matter constitutes a violation of Section 88 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Act, 2018, as an unreasonable and price fixing mechanism.

Other reliefs sought by the plaintiff include an order quashing the statement titled ‘2026 SAN Conferment Exercise Shortlisted Candidates’ released by the LPPC on June 23, 2026′ and all actions, proceedings and steps taken or to be taken in the process.

ALDRAP asked the court to order the LPPC to refund the N5 million application fee to each of the 89 SAN applicants, and in the same vein restrain body and the other respondents from taking any further steps, actions or proceedings in relation to the 2026 SAN conferment exercise, pending the final determination of the appeal pending at the Court of Appeal.

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria was also asked to order the LPPC to “restrict itself to conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) for litigation lawyers in accordance with sections 4 and 5 of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962, while allowing other lawyers and law graduates in other non-litigation areas of legal practice and employment such as Arbitration, Mediation, Legislative Drafting to create and confer their own ranks of legal excellence (and rewards of outstanding performance by employees) in accordance with the Labour Act, 1974”.

ALDRAP asked the court to award the sum of N10 million as cost against the respondents, jointly and severally.

Stating the grounds for the suit, ALDRAP said it has locus standi to bring the application as an association whose members are directly affected by the respondents’ actions, and whose members are excluded from the SAN conferment exercise on discriminatory grounds.

National Industrial Court of Nigeria asked to stop 2026 SAN conferment exercise