1 hour ago
2
Amid ongoing legal battle and controversy over the introduction of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, SCN, as an alternative to the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, for Nigerian lawyers, the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, has asserted that authorities in the legal sector gave “tacit” approval to the development.
The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, had rejected the Blue Silks rank, describing it as illegal, and the NBA’s Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, which confers the SAN title on lawyers adjudged to have merited the honour, warned that lawyers parading the Blue Silks rank risk being sanctioned for professional misconduct.
Following the threat, ALDRAP, which introduced the Blue Silks rank for non-litigation lawyers, approached an Abuja Federal High Court to protect its members’ fundamental rights, and also stop the NBA and others from interfering in matters concerning the Blue Silks rank.
ALDRAP is relying on a judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Abuja Federal High Court, dated 27th January 2026, to justify its argument that the NBA and LPPC have no authority over the Blue Silks rank. The judgment stated that the NBA cannot regulate items that were not included in the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962. Based on the pronouncement, ALDRAP argued that since the Blue Silks rank was not mentioned in the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962, neither the NBA nor the LPPC can regulate or penalise the lawyers taking the Blue Silks rank.
The suit over the Blue Silks rank is pending before the Abuja Federal High Court, with proceedings at the judgment stage.
Meanwhile, ALDRAP has revealed that documents and notifications pertaining to the introduction of the Blue Silks rank were submitted to relevant authorities such as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, NBA, the Senate, House of Representatives, Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chairman of the LPPC, and Federal Ministry of Justice, among others.
Parts of a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, through the Chief Registrar, Supreme Court of Nigeria, dated 17th November 2025, read, “We write to notify that our Governing Council has approved the introduction of two ranks for our members and others namely: (1) Senior Counsel of Nigeria and (2) Senior Legislative Counsel of Nigeria.”
ALDRAP in the letter noted that the Blue Silks could become an alternative to the SAN rank.
However, shedding more light on the development, ALDRAP Executive Secretary, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, disclosed that the CJN, NBA, LPPC and others failed to respond to letters and notifications sent to them concerning the introduction of the Blue Silks rank.
Jaja stressed that the silence of the CJN, NBA and LPPC had given tacit approval to the introduction of the Blue Silks rank. He cited a pronouncement by the Court of Appeal, which held that silence can be interpreted as acquiescence (implied consent or waiver of rights), to justify ALDRAP’s position.
“Beginning in the year 2021, long before the formal launch of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (SCN), the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP) took pains to write to notify the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and all the statutory authorities of the intention to launch the Blue Silks rank for its members in exercise of their rights under Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
“None of them deemed it necessary to respond to all of ALDRAP’s written correspondences.
“In accordance with the position of the law as laid down by the Court of Appeal of Nigeria in Lambe v. Aremu [2013] Vol. 7 WRN (and other case law), wherein it was held that silence can be interpreted as acquiescence (implied consent or waiver of rights). The maxim that “equity aids the vigilant, not those who slumber on their rights,” a statement signed by Jaja on behalf of ALDRAP, on Tuesday, said.
The statement disclosed that the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, SCN, is set to receive legislative backing through a proposed legislation titled, ‘A Register of Nigerian Legislative Counsel and Allied Practitioners (Establishment) Regulations, 2025’, which is awaiting signing by the Chairman of the National Assembly Service Commission, NASC.
Blue Silks rank controversy: ‘How CJN, NBA, LPPC silence conferred tacit approval’
