Nigerian non-litigation lawyers have approached the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria to challenge a petition against the Blue Silks rank, filed before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Mr Kabir Akanbi.
A suit brought before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, numbered NICN/ABJ/363/2026, has the non-litigation lawyers, under the aegis of Incorporated Trustees of Association of Legislative Drafting Practitioners, ALDRAP, and Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, as plaintiffs. The respondents are LPDC, Body of Benchers, Akanbi and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.
The non-litigation lawyers, in the suit, asked the court to declare that the decision of the LPDC to accept, entertain and proceed with the petition filed by Akanbi against the plaintiffs, with an order for substituted service, is unconstitutional, ultra vires, unlawful, null and void, and liable to be quashed by certiorari for violating sections 36(6), 36(9) and 36(12) of the Constitution and Rules 32 and 33 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, 2023.
The plaintiffs equally asked the court to declare that enforcement where no appellate mechanism exists at the LPDC violates sections 36(1), 36(2)(b) of the Constitution as held in FHC/ABJ/CS/1954/2024, delivered 28th September 2026.
The court was also asked to declare that the petition constitutes double jeopardy, as provided in Section 36(9) as the applicants already underwent judicial process in FHC/ABJ/CS/421/2026 from November 2025 to 13th May 2026 on the same Blue Silks subject matter now pending at the Court of Appeal and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.
The plaintiffs, in the same vein, asked the court to declare that the Supreme Court chief registrar, Akanbi, lacks the locus standi to file a petition against the Blue Silks rank at the LPDC, as he is not a member of ALDRAP nor the Nigerian Law Society, NLS, upon whom the title is conferred. According to the plaintiffs, membership of ALDRAP and NLS are prerequisites for conferment of the Blue Silks rank, in addition to prescribed fees and submission of 35 verifiable non-litigation transactions or publications assessed by the Body of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, BOSCON.
They averred that Akanbi has neither fulfilled the requirements, nor suffered any exclusion or discrimination on account of the Blue Silks rank.
Also, the court was asked to declare that by virtue of holding the offices of Secretary to the LPDC and Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Akanbi and his boss, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, are automatically ex-officio members of the LPDC and therefore any petition filed by him has a likelihood of bias, contrary to Section 36(1) of the Constitution.
The non-litigation lawyers therefore asked the court to issue an order quashing the decision of the LPDC to accept and entertain the petition, as well as the order of substituted service on the applicants. The court was also asked to issue a prohibition order restraining the LPDC from going ahead with the petition, as well as an order restraining the 3rd respondent (Akanbi) from implementing, enforcing or publishing the said decision, until the applicants are provided with an avenue to exercise their constitutional right of appeal.
In the same vein, the court was asked to issue an order of perpetual injection restraining Akanbi from ever submitting a petition against the plaintiffs and any other Nigerian lawyer on the issue of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, SCN, for the entire period that he remains in office as Secretary of the LPDC and Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. The plaintiffs equally sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the LPDC from entertaining any petition from Akanbi concerning the Blue Silks rank.
As well as asking the court to award the cost of the lawsuit against the respondents, the non-litigation lawyers also asked the court to order the Federal Judicial Service Commission to place Akanbi on interdiction and half salary, from February 2026 until judgment is delivered in FHC/ABJ/CS/421/2026 and NICN/ABJ/240/2026, “having devoted over 80 percent of his working hours to ad-hoc duties as Secretary to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, to the detriment of his statutory duty as Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria”.
The plaintiffs sought similar reliefs in a related suit filed before the Abuja Federal High Court.
Stating the grounds for which the reliefs are sought in the suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/2466/2026, the plaintiffs noted that a judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Umar held that the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, cannot regulate the Blue Silks rank.
They further averred that the chief registrar of the Supreme Court, while being a party to pending suits and an appeal on the Blue Silks rank, went ahead to submit a petition to the LPDC on the same subject matter, a move which they said amounted to forum shopping and abuse of due process.