BUT for the court actions challenging the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, the list of the new Senior Advocates of Nigeria would have been released by now. The first suit by the president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Joseph Bodurin Daudu, (SAN), is asking the court to stop the award for the main reason that the appointing authority did not follow the guidelines to the letter.The second suit is by concerned lawyers who think that the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria should be abolished for it is discriminatory and unfair to lawyers who are not Senior Advocates and their clients in terms of the privileges the holders of the rank enjoy in court and the non-proportional fees they collect.The claimants include Foluso Fayokun, former chairman of Lagos branch and Seth Amaefule, a former secretary of the same branch.The main proponent of the abolition, Tunji Gomez, a former secretary of Lagos branch and a bencher is said to be with them.Whatever way each of the cases go, one thing is clear: the coveted rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria will not be the same after the fight whether it stays or is abolished! Whether it will go the way of Senior Advocate of Ghana or the Queens Counsel in Nigeria as at 1964, only time will tell.Recently, the Supreme Court of Nigeria published a list of 62 legal practitioners nominated for the conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria having passed the first stage of the screening for admission into the Inner Bar.A part of this number would have been admitted into the Inner Bar but for the suits. This exercise would have marked the 36th year of the introduction of the rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria.This write-up will attempt to chronicle the odyssey of the rank of inner bar from colonial times to the present. It will also look at the race for the coveted prize from the first Nigerian enrolled as a lawyer in 1888 through the stoppage of the title after a resolution of the national body of the Nigeria Bar Association in 1964 to the invention of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1975 to the present crisis on whether to retain or do away with the title. Efforts will be made to look at the argument on both sides and on why it may not be an easy battle one way or the other.Kings (Queens) Counsel are barristers or sergeants who have been called within the bar and selected to be the kings (or Queens) counsel. They could not formerly be employed in any cause against the crown (example in defending a prisoner) without special license.Now, however, by a general dispensation granted in 1920, they can appear against the crown without such license called Queens Counsel when a Queen holds the crown. Nigeria like other British colonies borrowed the English common law and retains most of it. As a by-product, we also borrowed the concept of dividing the bar (legal practitioners) into members of the Inner and outer bar. The Inner Bar refers to the select members of the legal profession who have distinguished themselves through advocacy in the superior courts.In the court, they sit in the Inner Wells of the Bar or the front row, as is the general practice in Nigeria. They are regarded as the Queen of the Profession and enjoyed certain privileges including but not limited to calling their cases first and out of order. In some parts of Common Wealth, they are called Senior Counsel, Senior Advocates while some still retain the original name: Kings/Queens Counsel.In Nigeria, it took so long to achieve the rank of Queens Counsel. Most eminent practitioners like Sapara Williams, Alexander Taylor and Honorable Eric Moore, worked so hard that people thought they could have the title for the asking. None of them got it.It was the feeling of the conferring authority as of then that practice in a colonial dependency such as Nigeria as at then was not good enough for conferment of the rank of Queens Counsel. This view continued until late 1958 when two Nigerian lawyers were honoured with the rank of Queens Counsel. They were: Chief Fredrick Rotimi Alade Williams and Chief H.O. Davies. Chief F.R.A. Williams was called to Bar in 1943 thus achieving the rank at the age of 15 years post-call.The second recipient was called to bar in 1946 and enrolled as a lawyer in 1947. With the jinx broken, more Nigerians started achieving the rank. As at 1961, the law reports recorded the following as possessing the rank of Queens Counsel: Dr. Teslim Elias, Honorable Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Oladipo Moore, Chief R.O. Fani-Kayode and Mr.G.C. Nonyelu, Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation.In 1962, more names joined the Inner Bar. They included: Chuba Ikpeazu, Mr. Omololu, the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Mr. O. A. Ademola, the Director of Public Prosecution of the Western Region. Chief Gabriel Chike Michael Onyiuke as the Director of Public Prosecution, Eastern Nigeria, Chief M.E.R. Okorodudu and Daniel Onuora Ibekwe, the Solicitor-General, of Eastern Nigeria.In 1963, they were more. They included: C. Egerton-Shyngle, Fredrick O. Anyaegbunam, Emmanuel O.Araka and Aderemi Lawson, among others. In 1964, Kaimu A. Kotun was on the list in January 1964.With the achievement of republican status by Nigeria in 1963, there was a move by some lawyers who felt that having achieved a republican status and to continue to accept the honour had vestiges of colonialism. Not all, the abolitionists cited the oppression of the poor by the rich through the importation of numerous Queens Counsel from United Kingdom for minor matters for no other reason than the prestige of it. Nigerian lawyers complained that juicy oily briefs were reserved for foreign lawyers who were Queens Counsel.Agitation became so passionate that in 1964, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at a duly convened general meeting passed a resolution abolishing the rank of Queens Counsel in Nigeria. On March 9, 1964, Chief Oladipo Moore, appeared in Enekebe Vs. Enekebe 1964 ANLR without the usual title of Queens Counsel!From 1964 to 1975, there was no distinction between one lawyer and the other on the ground of being a member of the Inner and Outer Bar.However, in 1975, the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria was created. Two awards were made. One was given to the first Queens Counsel on record, Chief F.R.A. Williams and the other to the then Attorney General of the Federation, Dr. Nabo Graham-Douglas called in 1956. There was no award for 1976 and 1977. From 1978 till date, it became an annual ritual till date with the number of awards varying from year to year with the highest being 25.There have been agitations asking for reforms or abolition. Some of those who are complaining say the procedure for the award is not transparent and therefore the basis for the selection is not clear. They also point out that the privileges attached to the rank are being abused. For example, Senior Advocates have the privilege of calling their cases out of time.The protesters say that after being mentioned out of turn, their insistence on having the matter go on trial is rather unfair especially when the Outer Bar and their clients may have come to court much earlier. They further contend that giving an edge to a party in a trial for no other reason other than that he has a SAN as his lawyer, runs against the grain of the fundamental right to fair hearing and so it is discriminatory.In addition, they contend that Senior Advocates are unduly priced and therefore deprive most lawyers of the jobs that could go round. Even petitions on local government elections are hijacked by Senior Advocates thereby leaving little or nothing for the other side of the fence.Those who say that the title should be retained are mainly Senior Advocates. They have even gone ahead to form an association called Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria. They believe there may be need for reform but actual cancellation is not the answer!One reason they give is that there should be a way of rewarding excellence. They are not convinced that we should go the way of Ghana where the rank of Senior Advocates of Ghana was abolished through a court action instituted by a lawyer. They are not even convinced by the American way where there is no distinction between members of inner and outer bar.Further more, they contend that reforms have already been put in place. They point out that application forms are now available to whoever wants to apply for the rank.Visits are made to chambers and interviews conducted on the candidate. Applicants who pass through the chamber screening exercise are published to enable members of the public make comments on the suitability or otherwise of a candidate.Each side of the divide has its argument. The pro-abolition group has Pa. Tunji Gomez, a Bencher, of the Lagos branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) as the arrowhead. In Lagos in 2009 during the annual Bar conference, the issue caused disquiet. The motion could not be taken. Each side went to work harder. At Kaduna conference in 2010, the motion still could not be taken but there was an academic treatise of same. Ike Uko, Notary Public of Nigeria, was a former National Assistant Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association.
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