OPEN LETTER TO HON. JUSTICE MOHAMMED UMAR AND VICTOR OZIOMA NWADIKE, ESQ.: A LETTER OF GRATITUDE FOR THE JUDGEMENT THAT HAS TAUGHT THE NBA NEVER TO CROSS ITS BOUNDARY BEYOND THE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS ACT, 1962 IN THE NAME OF REGULATING LAWYERS (A BOOST FOR THE BLUE SILKS RANK OF SENIOR COUNSEL OF NIGERIA-SCN AND THE NEW NIGERIAN LAW SOCIETY-NLS)”

By Tonye Clinton Jaja

Dear Hon. Justice Mohammed Umar, Your Lordship, Sir,

I write to express immense gratitude to your good self on behalf of over 2,500 lawyers and members both the new Nigerian Law Society (NLS) and the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners-ALDRAP.

The new Nigerian Law Society (NLS) received its certificate of registration dated 30th December 2025 from the Federal Government of Nigeria pursuant to a September 2025 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Corporate Affairs Commission (MoU) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

The Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners-ALDRAP received its own certificate of incorporation from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in the year 2017.

On 27th January 2026, your landmark judgment reprimanded the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA for violation of the express and explicit provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962.

Unlike the ambiguously worded judgment of 4th July 2025 delivered by Hon. Justice Binta Nyako, your judgment was clear and unambiguous in it’s wordings.

Your judgment in no uncertain terms, laid down the rule that it is only the National Assembly by an amendment to the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 that can impose additional requirements to regulate or restrict the practise of law in Nigeria.

As stated in the judgment, the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA lacks the legitimate powers to impose conditions such as the Mandatory Professional Continuing Development (MPCD) course as a pre-requisite requirement for renewal of practice licence for lawyers.

We use this opportunity to also express our collective immense gratitude to Victor OZIOMA Nwadike, the lawyer who initiated this lawsuit against the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA. This judgment has laid down an historic precedent.

The judgment states in clear terms that the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA must restrict itself to the roles of regulation that are assigned to it within the clear and unambiguous wordings of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962.“

From this perspective this judgment would prove to be a useful precedent and persuasive authority in the forthcoming case of the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners-ALDRAP against the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA. The suit number is FHC/ABJ/CS/2547/2025.

In almost similar circumstances, the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA went beyond the confines of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 by issuing a letter against Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja to discontinue the planned induction ceremony of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria-SCN.

The said Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria-SCN is completely outside the purview of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962.

The Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria-SCN was designed as a scheme to reward legal excellence of non-litigation Nigerian lawyers in the fields of legislative drafting, law reform, company secretarial and legal academics who meet the criteria of holding a Bachelor of Laws-LLB (LLB) degree, plus ten years post LLB degree and evidence of 35 verifiable non-litigation transactions or legal academic publications.

Unlike the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) which is entirely governed by the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 and for which a certificate of call to Bar by the Body of Benchers is a pre-requisite requirement, the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria-SCN is for non-litigation Nigerian lawyers.

Therefore, the major distinction is that call to bar certificate is not a pre-requisite requirement for the Blue Silks, therefore it is completely outside the purview of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 and therefore outside the regulatory mandate of the NBA.

The National Assembly Service Act, 2014 is an example of a legislation that recognises lawyers holding an LLB degree as a basic requirement (without the necessity of holding a call to Bar certificate as required under the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962) that is sufficient to practise as legislative drafting lawyers.

The Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 as recognises a category of lawyers whom it refers to as professional agents who can handle incorporation of companies and trustees for clients. This category of lawyers only requires an LLB degree as a pre-requisite requirement to be enrolled by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) without the necessity of holding the call to Bar certificate as required under the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962.

Again, under the Arbitration and Mediation Act, 2023, lawyers holding only an LLB degree are entitled to practise as arbitrators and mediators without the additional requirements of holding a call to Bar certificate as required under the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962.

Same applies to data controllers under the Nigerian Data Protection Commission Act, 2023 and the Notary Public Act, 2023.

Therefore, the above named categories of lawyers (holders of LLB degree) do not come under the purview of regulation of both the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 nor the NBA.

It is for the above named categories of lawyers that the new Nigerian Law Society (NLS) has been established as an umbrella association of LLB degree holders as well as the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria-SCN.

In November 2025, the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners-ALDRAP filed a lawsuit against the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to seek an Order of the Honourable Court to break the monopoly of the NBA in terms of fixing prices of legal services and products in Nigeria.

This lawsuit is brought pursuant to Section 88 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Act, 2018 which states that the duty of the President of Nigeria in his capacity as the Chairman of the said Commission to dismantle monopoly of price fixing in any industry within Nigeria. In this instant case, the endgame is to break NBA’s monopoly by giving permission to the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) to fix prices of goods and services within the legal services industry in Nigeria. FHC/ABJ/CS/2594/2025 is the lawsuit number at the Federal High Court Abuja.

We look forward to submitting the judgment of the Hon. Justice Mohammed Umar as an authority.

Finally, in view of the judgment of Hon. Justice Mohammed Umar, we seek use it as an authority to buttress our claim for the dissolution of the NBA’s Institute of Continuing Legal Education.

This is the gravamen of our lawsuit in a suit numbered: FHC/ABJ/CS/2748/2025. It is reported online at this link.

On this note, I rest my case.

• Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja is factional Executive Director of Nigerian Law Society (NLS) and Secretary, ALDRAP

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