Blue Silks: Non-litigation lawyers file lawsuits against Supreme Court chief registrar’s LPDC petition

Nigerian non-litigation lawyers have approached the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria to problem a petition against the Blue Silks rank, filed earlier than the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Mr Kabir Akanbi.

A swimsuit introduced earlier than the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, numbered NICN/ABJ/363/2026, has the non-litigation lawyers, below 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, within the swimsuit, requested the court docket to declare that the choice of the LPDC to just accept, entertain and proceed with the petition filed by Akanbi against the plaintiffs, with an order for substituted service, is unconstitutional, extremely vires, illegal, 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 requested the court docket to declare that enforcement the place no appellate mechanism exists on the LPDC violates sections 36(1), 36(2)(b) of the Constitution as held in FHC/ABJ/CS/1954/2024, delivered twenty eighth September 2026.

The court docket was additionally requested to declare that the petition constitutes double jeopardy, as offered in Section 36(9) because the candidates already underwent judicial course of in FHC/ABJ/CS/421/2026 from November 2025 to thirteenth May 2026 on the identical Blue Silks subject material now pending on the Court of Appeal and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.

The plaintiffs, in the identical vein, requested the court docket to declare that the Supreme Court chief registrar, Akanbi, lacks the locus standi to file a petition against the Blue Silks rank on the LPDC, as he isn’t 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 conditions for conferment of the Blue Silks rank, along with prescribed charges 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 necessities, nor suffered any exclusion or discrimination on account of the Blue Silks rank.

Also, the court docket was requested to declare that by advantage of holding the places of work of Secretary to the LPDC and Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Akanbi and his boss, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, are robotically ex-officio members of the LPDC and due to this fact any petition filed by him has a probability of bias, opposite to Section 36(1) of the Constitution.

The non-litigation lawyers due to this fact requested the court docket to situation an order quashing the choice of the LPDC to just accept and entertain the petition, in addition to the order of substituted service on the candidates. The court docket was additionally requested to situation a prohibition order restraining the LPDC from going forward with the petition, in addition to an order restraining the third respondent (Akanbi) from implementing, imposing or publishing the stated resolution, till the candidates are supplied with an avenue to train their constitutional proper of enchantment.

In the identical vein, the court docket was requested to situation an order of perpetual injection restraining Akanbi from ever submitting a petition against the plaintiffs and some other Nigerian lawyer on the difficulty of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, SCN, for your entire interval that he stays in workplace 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 regarding the Blue Silks rank.

As effectively as asking the court docket to award the price of the lawsuit against the respondents, the non-litigation lawyers additionally requested the court docket to order the Federal Judicial Service Commission to put Akanbi on interdiction and half wage, from February 2026 till 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 comparable reliefs in a associated swimsuit filed earlier than the Abuja Federal High Court.

Stating the grounds for which the reliefs are sought within the swimsuit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/2466/2026, the plaintiffs famous {that a} judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Umar held that the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, can not regulate the Blue Silks rank.

They additional averred that the chief registrar of the Supreme Court, whereas being a celebration to pending fits and an enchantment on the Blue Silks rank, went forward to submit a petition to the LPDC on the identical subject material, a transfer which they stated amounted to discussion board buying and abuse of due course of.