Senior lawyer and chieftain of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP), Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja has vowed that no court can gag him because all his writings are based on the truth.

In an “open letter” to fiery human rights activist and former Nigerian Bar Association Vice President, Dr. Monday Ubani SAN, Jaja stated that the publicity around the controversial “Blue Silk” rank has boosted applications for the rank.

The letter was titled “OPEN LETTER TO MONDAY ONYEKACHI UBANI: A LETTER OF HEARTFELT THANKS AND GRATITUDE FOR THE UNINTENDED FREE PUBLICITY AND VIRAL VISIBILITY OF THE BLUE SILKS ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA (TRUTH IS AND WILL ALWAYS REMAIN A DEFENCE AGAINST LIBEL, SLANDER AND DEFAMATION, THAT IS THE REASON WHY MALAMI HAS NEVER SUED ME).”

In the open letter which was made available to CITY LAWYER, Jaja wrote: “Although, you did not intend for it, the number of applications for the Blue Silks rank increased from 16 to 100, out of which we shortlisted 30 senior lawyers.

“This is because as a result of the media frenzy so many Nigerian lawyers, even from the United States of America (USA), contacted me to find out what this Blue Silks rank is all about and why the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA is fighting against it.

“I simply forwarded all the lawsuits filed by the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners-ALDRAP against both the NBA, President of Nigeria and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

“Based on their objective reasoning they freely elected to register and submit applications to be considered for conferement (sic) of the Blue Silks rank in the category of Senior Counsel of Nigeria-SCN, Senior Legislative Counsel of Nigeria-SELCON and Senior Legal Academic-SLA.

“It moved me to tears, it restored my faith in Nigerian lawyers, so they are not a lost cause.

“Even from within the leadership of the NBA, a high ranking professor of law, sent me a message to say that he is proud of the legal writings and the Blue Silks initiative of ALDRAP and the exposure of the NBA-SPIDEL.

“Just like Nicodemus in the Bible, there are so many Nigerian lawyers who are not happy with how the leadership of the NBA is steering the affairs of the Nigerian lawyers under it’s “yoke”!!!

“However, these Nigerian lawyers keep quiet, for fear of adverse retributions from the leaders of the NBA such as how Monday Onyekachi Ubani used his position as the lawyer of the Senate President to try to afflict me at my place of employment.”

Warning that he would not be silenced, Jaja wrote: “I CANNOT BE SILENCED BECAUSE I SPEAK AND WRITE 100% TRUTH ABOUT EVENTS OF WHICH I HAVE PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE.

“FOR EXAMPLE, HAVING PREVIOUSLY WORKED UNDER MALAMI FROM 2018 TO 2020, ALL MY WRITINGS AGAINST HIM AND MY SUBMISSIONS TO THE EFCC ARE 100% CORRECT AND CAN BE CORROBORATED.

“THIS IS THE REASON MALAMI HAS NOT SUED ME.

“This is a sublime truth that Monday Onyekachi Ubani is yet to grasp in his recent senile attempt to use a lawsuit to have me gagged from writing about his acts of professional misconduct which is now before the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC).

“As I have demonstrated, the attempt by Monday Onyekachi Ubani to afflict me at my place of employment (just because the DG of my place of employment is his friend) has backfired because an independent panel has been constituted to review the illegal suspension.

“Femi Falana SAN, Jibrin Samuel Okupeta, SAN and the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) wrote and made oral submissions to the said panel in my favour.

“I CANNOT BE GAGGED BY ANY COURT OF LAW FROM WRITING, BECAUSE I WRITE 100% TRUTH.”

Concluding, Jaja wrote: “Stop wasting your money on lawyers to file lawsuits and online publications against me.”

CITY LAWYER recalls that Ubani had obtained an interim cease-and-desist order from the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Jaja and a blogger from making further alleged derogatory publications against the senior lawyer.

The order, granted on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, by Hon. Justice S. U. Bature of the Maitama Division, follows a defamation suit filed by Ubani, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). The suit, marked FCT/HC/CV/4411/2025, alleges that the defendants circulated materials that injured Ubani’s professional reputation.

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