The 2026 Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, conferment exercise has come under threat as an association of Nigerian lawyers has asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, to halt the process or face legal action.
The threat emerged shortly after the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee, LPPC, headed by the CJN, on June 23, 2026, released a list of 89 applicants shortlisted for conferment of the prestigious SAN rank. The shortlist, signed by Kabir Eniola Akanbi, Esq, Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Secretary of the LPPC, comprised 77 advocate applicants and 12 academic applicants.
The shortlisted applicants are slated for the final interview having successfully passed preliminary stages in the process leading to the conferment of the SAN rank for the year 2026.
Every year, the LPPC confers the SAN rank on lawyers adjusted to have merited the title.
However, the 2026 edition of the exercise has come under threat as lawyers under the umbrella of Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, have sent a pre-action notice to the CJN, asking that the process be discontinued pending the determination of a lawsuit before the Court of Appeal.
The Incorporated Trustees of ALDRAP and its Executive Director, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, had asked the Abuja Federal High Court to stop the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and the LPPC, from interfering in the conferment of the Blue Silks rank, which the association introduced as an alternative to the SAN rank for non-litigation lawyers. The
