Ex-NBA President Conferred With Controversial Blue Silk Rank

A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Ebele Nwokoye, has been conferred with the controversial Blue Silks rank, which was introduced as an alternative to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title for non-litigation lawyers in Nigeria.

The NBA had opposed the introduction of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, describing the title as illegal.

The NBA, which confers the SAN title through its Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, warned that Nigerian lawyers who take up the Blue Silks rank risk severe sanctions.

The introduction of the Blue Silks is the subject of a legal battle between the NBA and promoters of the rank, the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP).

Nwokoye, who served as NBA President from 1985 to 1987, was conferred with the Blue Silks rank on Tuesday at an event in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

He was also conferred with the title of the National Patron of the Body of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (BOSCON).

BOSCON is the body that is responsible for the assessment and conferment of candidates who apply for the Blue Silks rank.

Unlike the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, whose major criterion is submission of evidence of courtroom litigation by candidates, the criteria for the Blue Silks rank are that such candidates must submit not less than 35 verifiable non-litigation transactions as well as hold a Bachelor of Laws, LLB, degree for not less than ten years.

Reacting to the development in a statement on Tuesday, Executive Secretary of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, Chief Blue Silk of Nigeria, noted that 15th September 2026 will be remembered in the history of the Nigerian legal profession as the date when the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (SCN) secured a double victory.

Jaja said, “The conferment of the Blue Silks-SCN upon the former President of the NBA, Chief Nwokoye, is a significant victory considering that the immediate past leadership of the NBA launched an unsuccessful attack against the Blue Silks, SCN, at its inception in the year 2025.

“Instead of going to file a lawsuit at any court of law, the Mazi Afam Osigwe-led regime of the NBA unsuccessfully tried to use illegal methods to stop the maiden investiture ceremony, which was held at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT, on 15th December 2025.

“Without any order of any court of law, the Mazi Afam Osigwe-led NBA regime mobilised police officers and other officials of the National Assembly (including the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr Kamoru Ogunlana, Esq.) to deny entry into the hall at the Senate building of the National Assembly wherein the investiture ceremony was originally scheduled to be held.

“All the aforementioned illegal methods and resort to self-help instead of the court of law by the Mazi Afam Osigwe-led regime of the NBA are what the Supreme Court of Nigeria condemned in its landmark judgment of Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu (1986) 1 Nigerian Weekly Law Report-NWLR (pt. 18) 621.

“It must be noted that all these illegal methods were deployed by the Mazi Afam Osigwe-led regime of the NBA even after they were officially informed that the promoters of the Blue Silks-SCN had filed a lawsuit against the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking an Order of Injunction against the NBA’s interference with the Blue Silks-SCN.

“Ironically, the same Mazi Afam Osigwe-led regime of the NBA immediately raised alarm and used the defence that the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA is an independent legal entity that cannot allow external interference from the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. This was the defence raised by Mazi Afam Osigwe during the July 2026 election of the National Officers of the NBA.”

Continuing, Jaja noted that the period within which the NBA can appeal an Abuja Federal High Court judgment which affirmed the conferment of the Blue Silks has passed.

“The second part of the victory is that the time prescribed for the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, to file its appeal has elapsed, and the NBA has failed to file any appeal against the said judgment which validates the Blue Silks, SCN.

“The said judgment was delivered on 27th January 2026 by Hon. Justice Mohammed Umar Garba of the Federal High Court Abuja, Suit Number: FHC/ABJ/CS/1238/2025,” he added.

According to Jaja, the judgment prohibited the NBA, and by extension the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC, from attempting to regulate the Blue Silks rank and any other matters that were not expressly mentioned in the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962.

“The NBA, who were parties in the said lawsuit, failed to appeal against that judgment. Therefore, it remains the binding judgment,” Jaja said, noting that instead of appealing, the NBA is relying on another judgment by another judge of the same Federal High Court, Abuja, which has been appealed against.

He added, “As any intelligent lawyer would know, another judge and his judgment of a Federal High Court cannot overrule or override a previous judgment of the Federal High Court because they are both courts of concurrent jurisdiction.

“Therefore, the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (SCN), which was introduced as an alternative to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN, is a legally recognised route of legal excellence for non-litigation Nigerian lawyers.”