Supreme Court Denies Trending List Of 2021 SAN Designates

The Supreme Court has distanced itself from a viral list said to be the names of lawyers penciled down to be conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) this year.

Reacting to the list which has gone viral, the Director of Press and Information at the Supreme Court, Festus Akande labelled the list as fake.

He added that the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), which is a body chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), and saddled with the responsibility of conferring the award on deserving lawyers annually, is yet to release any list to that effect.

The spokesperson, therefore, urged members of the public to disregard the trending list.

Naija News reports that the LPPC is domiciled at the Supreme Court.

“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 skepticism in the public space,” Akande noted.

He added that the LPPC has a tradition of announcing the names of those to be elevated to the SAN position and this year will not be an exception.

He urged those spreading the fake news to desist as the public will be informed at the right time.

“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.

“The perpetrators of such illegal act would be apprehended and given appropriate sanctions, to serve as 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 unauthorized 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 noted.