Follow Us on Google
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Seventy-two lawyers, including the Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Anthony Ojukwu and a former member of the House of Representatives from Edo State, West-Idahosa Ehiogie, will on Wednesday, be conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Muhammad.
The ceremony which will take place at the Supreme Court complex is part of activities to kick-start the 2021/2022 legal year of the Supreme Court.
They were among the list of successful lawyers elevated to the rank of SAN by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC). The list which was released on Thursday by the acting Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Hajo Sarki Bello, comprised 10 academics and 62 advocates.
It is, however, pertinent to note that the court has already commenced sitting in this new legal year since Monday, September 13, 2021.
The prevailing third wave of COVID-19 and the protracted strike embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) early in the year, which slowed down the work of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee, informed the late conferment of the SAN rank for 2021.
A statement by the Director for Information, Festus Akande, explained that during the new legal year ceremony, the CJN will deliver a state-of-the nation’s judiciary, which is ostensibly to highlight the performance of the Supreme Court; and by extension, the judiciary in the outgone 2020/2021 legal year.
Out of the 159 legal practitioners that applied for the SAN this year, 72 were successful at the end of the rigorous exercise. Out of this number, 10 are academics while 62 are advocates.
The Supreme Court commenced its annual vacation after a remarkably successful 2020/2021 legal year on Monday, July 25, 2021. All the programmes billed to mark the commencement of the new legal year are to start at 10am prompt.
