Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Supreme Court has warned that it will deal with lawyers who speculate on names of beneficiaries of the rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria SAN.
Some lawyers were alleged to have made such insinuations to an online platform.
Now, the apex court has vowed to unmask the culprits and drag them before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for approximate punishment.
In a statement by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, it was clarified that the final list of lawyers to be conferred with the prestigious rank has not been compiled by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee LPPC.
The statement signed by the Supreme Court Director of Press and Information, Dr Akande Festus read in part “Our attention has been drawn to a story by an online medium that published a purported list of “successful candidates” that emerged after the second filtration exercise by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC).
“We wish to state clearly that the above information is fake, unofficial and untrue. It’s a mere figment of the imagination of the authors who may ostensibly be on a mission to impugn and malign the reputation and integrity of the LPPC with a view to causing confusion and scepticism in the public space.
“The information should be discountenanced by whosoever might have come across it. For the umpteenth time, we wish to let the public know that any information, especially issues regarding the above topic can only emanate from the office of the LPPC Secretary/Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Anything outside this official source should be disregarded.
“As has been the practice, all information concerning the LPPC, especially those bordering on the announcement of successful applicants for the award of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, are published in reputable national dailies and this years’ own will not be an exception.
“The perpetrators of such illegal act would be apprehended and given appropriate sanctions to serve as a deterrent to others that might be waiting in the queue to do same in the future.
“The LPPC Secretariat wishes to appeal to bloggers of various lawyers’ platforms to henceforth refrain from posting or publishing or aiding in the circulation of unauthorised materials or fake documents said to originate from Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee.
“The Committee may be forced to refer the conduct of such bloggers who are legal practitioners to the appropriate disciplinary committee of Body of Benchers. A word is enough for the wise.
“On this note, we wish to inform and assure our esteemed legal community and the general public that the authentic official list of the successful applicants that emerged from the second filtration exercise by the LPPC will be made public through advertorials in the national dailies in due course”. the statement said.
