Senior Advocates of No-Consequence (SANs)

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

The ritual of the “Call to Bar” is the ceremonial ceremonial for the  admittance of caller entrants into Nigeria’s ineligible profession.

The work for administering it resides successful the Body of Benchers (BoB), a statutory entity described by instrumentality arsenic “a assemblage of ineligible practitioners of the highest favoritism successful the ineligible assemblage successful Nigeria.”

The solemnity of the Call to Bar is guaranteed by the beingness of members of the BoB who administer the ceremonial resplendent successful ceremonial gowns expected to attest to their precocious favoritism successful matters legal. The criteria for the determination of this threshold request of “highest distinction” antecedent to rank of the BoB are, however, opaque.

The ceremonial itself is usually an juncture for members of the Body of Benchers to punctual the caller entrants of the obligations that travel with their caller status. It should spell without saying that the members of the BoB should themselves embody those values done their ain records and example. It should beryllium nary astonishment that, successful Nigeria, this is not usually  the lawsuit for immoderate of them

There are 3 categories of rank of the BoB. Membership tin exceptionally beryllium honorific, a mostly vacuous conferment reserved for governmental oregon diplomatic occasions. Separately, determination is mean rank attained done precocious bureau successful nationalist work arsenic judges oregon Attorneys-General oregon arsenic leaders oregon nominees of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Such rank these days besides extends to the chairpersons of the judiciary committees of the 2 chambers of the National Assembly arsenic good arsenic to main officers of the National Assembly who are lawyers. Members who are conscientious successful attending meetings and authoritative dinners of the BoB implicit a play of 4 years whitethorn beryllium conferred with the presumption of Life Benchers. That is the worldly of precocious distinction.

The astir caller Call to Bar ceremonial occurred successful Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, implicit 3 days from 23 to 25 September 2025. Away from the cameras, connected 24 September, thing happened which speaks to the existential – adjacent terminal – situation of values, enactment and work that presently afflicts the governance of Nigeria’s ineligible profession. At the insistence of definite members of the BoB, 1 of the members elevated to the presumption of Life Bencher lone successful January 2025, Chief Mike Ozekhome, was prevailed upon to softly retreat from participating successful the process of admitting the caller entrants into the profession.

The crushed fixed by the objecting members of the BoB was a judgement delivered a specified six weeks earlier connected 11 September 2025 successful his yet unsuccessful exertion for registration of rubric successful existent property earlier a spot registration tribunal successful England, successful which the presiding justice shredded Ozekhome’s grounds arsenic “an invention and contrivance.” According to Gideon Christian, a instrumentality prof the University of Calgary successful Alberta, Canada, “this lawsuit illustrates however corruption operates [in Nigeria]: politicians fell wealthiness overseas nether mendacious identities, portion lawyers – sworn to uphold the instrumentality – service arsenic enablers of fraud.”

The astir important happening astir the enforced withdrawal of Chief Ozekhome from the Call to Bar ceremonies past period is not that it occurred. It is that the BoB went retired of its mode to guarantee that it was a well-guarded secret. It is applicable present that successful summation to its relation successful admitting caller entrants into the vocation of the instrumentality successful Nigeria, the BoB besides hosts the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), the statutory assemblage charged with enforcing consequences for ethical lapses successful Nigeria’s ineligible profession. When it encounters cases affecting elder lawyers, however, the BoB seems to lapse into a wont of nary consequence.

On 10 December 2021, the Supreme Court of Nigeria determined that Michael Aondoakaa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN), and erstwhile Attorney-General of the Federation (HAGF), “had, by his conduct, undermined and subverted the medication of justness and the independence, authorization and integrity of the judiciary” and “ought not to beryllium entrusted with immoderate different nationalist bureau astatine all.” In effect, the Supreme Court barred Mr. Aondoakaa from nationalist bureau again successful Nigeria. The antecedents of this determination were staggering.

Ahead of Nigeria’s 2007 wide elections, governmental parties organized processes successful 2006 to prime their candidates for variou...