Hajo Sarki, secretary of the legal practitioners has said that 137 candidates have been shortlisted for the rank of senior advocate of Nigeria.
Amongst the 137 are Bolaji Owasanoye, chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and Anthony Ojukwu, executive secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Other lawyers includes; Peter Mrakpo, attorney-general of Delta state; Afam Osigwe, former national secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA); Remi Olatubora, former attorney-general of Ondo state; Oyelowo Oyewo, Oyo state attorney-general and commissioner for justice; Babatunde Ogala, a former lawmaker.
In a statement released yesterday, Sarki said the shortlisted candidates were “graded under the category system of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee Guidelines, 2018”.
According to him, only qualified candidates after the advocate filtration stage and the academic pre-qualification exercise were shortlisted.
While 116 are practising lawyers, the other 21 are academic applicants.
Sarki said the public are free to comment on the integrity, reputation and competence of the candidates.
“However, any complaint(s) presented to the legal practitioners’ privileges committee must be accompanied with a verifying affidavit deposed to before a court of record in Nigeria,” he said.
“In relation to paragraph 12(2) of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee Guidelines, 2018, twenty (20) copies of such comments must reach the LPPC office “not later than 4pm on Tuesday, October 13, 2020.”
