LIMITS OF INFLUENCE OF COURTS OF LAW IN THE PROCESS OF AWARD OF THE RANK OF SAN IN NIGERIA
(By Udems)
I have just seen and gone through a news item titled, “Former
Kogi House Of Assembly Member Sues LPPC For Nominating Abdulwahab Mohammed As
SAN”; (published on <https://thenigerialawyer.com/former-kogi-house-of-assembly-member-sues-lppc-for-nominating-abdulwahab-mohammed-as-san/>) in which it
is reported that a “Former member representing Igalamela/Odolu State
Constituency and Chairman of Public Accounts Committee in Kogi State House of
Assembly, Hon. Friday Sani Makama, on Friday, filed a lawsuit at the Federal
High Court, Abuja against the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC,
for nominating Barrister Abdul Wahab Mohammed for the title of Senior Advocate
of Nigeria (SAN). ”The Legal Practitioners Privileges
Committee (LPPC) is a regulatory authority in the legal profession, charged by
section 5 LPA with the power to award or withdraw the rank of Senior Advocate
of Nigeria (SAN) respectively to or from deserving legal practitioners in
Nigeria.
It is my humble opinion that no court in
Nigeria has the power to restrain the LPPC from awarding the rank of SAN to any
lawyer the LPPC decides to award the title to or to withdraw the rank from
anyone the LPPC decides to not withdraw same from. It is entirely within the
discretion of the LPPC to decide who to award to and who to not. Just as the
courts cannot compel the LPPC, in the same manner, courts have no power to stop
the LPPC in this regard.
Section 5 (1) and (2) of the Legal
Practitioners Act, Cap L11, LFN, 2004 provides: “(1) Subject to subsection (2)
of this section, the Legal Practitioners' Privileges Committee established
under subsection (3) of this section may by instrument confer on a legal
practitioner the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria. (2) A person shall not be
conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria unless he has been
qualified to practise as a legal practitioner in Nigeria for not less than ten
years and has achieved distinction in the legal profession in such manner as
the Commit‐ tee may, from time to time, determine”. After a person has met the
conditions stipulated in section 5(2) LPA, and the Guidelines of the LPPC 2018,
made by the LPPC, and any further directives contained in the SAN application
form, the LPPC reserves the discretion to award the rank of SAN to the person.
However, it must be stated that there are
windows open to any person who feels that any lawyer in Nigeria has committed
any form of professional misconduct, to seek redress. The misconducts include:
▪️(a) infamous conduct in a professional
respect [s. 12(1)(a)LPA];
▪️(b). Conduct incompatible with the
status of a legal practitioner [s. 12(2)LPA];
▪️(c) obtaining enrollment by fraud [s.
12(1)(c)LPA]; and
▪️(d) conviction in Nigeria for an
offence incompatible with the status of a legal practitioner [s.
12(1)(b)LPA].
Under a section 12, LPA and Rules 4 of
the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee Rules 2020, any aggrieved person
may make a petition/complaint (known as “Originating Application”). Under Rule
4 of the LPDC Rules, the Originating Application may be made to anyone of the
following: the CJN, AGF, PCA, Chairman of BOB, NBA President or an NBA Branch
Chairman, or to the LPDC, etc following which the affected lawyer may face
trial before the LPDC (Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee), and if
found liable, may be expelled or suspended from law practice or otherwise
warned or admonished, depending on the circumstances and the type of misconduct
committed. There is room for restitution also.
As an alternative to trial before the
LPDC, the aggrieved person may petition the Supreme Court of Nigeria [under s.
13(1) LPA] or the Chief Justice of Nigeria [under section 13(2) LPA], each of
which is a disciplinary authority in the legal profession.
There is yet another option; if the
lawyer is a SAN, the aggrieved person can petition the LPPC to suspend or
withdraw the rank from him. If he not yet a SAN, as in this case, the aggrieved
person may petition the LPPC to not award him the rank. The LPPC would look
into the petition and decide what to do. The LPPC has an absolute discretion in
this regard. It is not even bound to investigate any petition although it is
desirable it does in the interest of the image of the profession. If the
aggrieved person has written to the LPPC and his petition is unsuccessful, as
in the present case, he is not entitled to go to court to stop or challenge the
LPPC. The rank of SAN is a PRIVILEGE to be awarded to whomsoever the LPPC
wishes to award it to , provided the person meets the conditions set out in
section 5(2) LPA and also in the extant guidelines for the award of SAN.
Please note that the mere fact they a
person has met the relevant conditions is not any guarantee that the person
would be given the rank. It is, as I have pointed out, absolutely within LPPC’s
discretion to decide whether to award it to you even after you’ve met the
relevant conditions. LPPC cannot be compelled one way or another, to award or
to not award. Based on this, the case reportedly filed by the ex law maker in
Kogi State, to compel the LPPC to not award the rank of SAN to a lawyer, is
frivolous, vexatious and amounts to a gross abuse of the process of court. My
humble opinion, please.
Respectfully,
Sylvester Udemezue (udems)
08109024556
(21/11/2020)
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