Despite restraining order, ALDRAP insists on Blue Silks, says judgment contradicted Supreme Court

Despite an Abuja Federal High Court judgment that stopped it from conferring the Blue Silks rank on Nigeria lawyers, the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, has said it will go ahead with the activity.

ALDRAP had introduced the Blue Silks rank as an alternative to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, title conferred on lawyers adjudged to have merited the honour.

But the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, rejected the Blue Silks rank, describing it as illegal. In the same vein, the NBA’s Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, which is responsible for conferring the SAN title, warned that lawyers parading the Blue Silks rank risk being sanctioned for professional misconduct.

Following the threat, ALDRAP, approached an Abuja Federal High Court to protect its members’ fundamental rights, and also to stop the NBA and others from interfering in matters concerning the Blue Silks rank.

But the court, presided by Justice James Omotosho, ruled in favour of the NBA and other respondents, and went ahead to make an order of perpetual injunction restraining the applicants – ALDRAP and its Executive Secretary, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja – from continuing to confer the Blue Silks rank.

ALDRAP had already filed a notice of appeal and stay of execution to challenge the Abuja Federal High Court judgment, arguing that Justice Omotosho should not have granted the restraining order since no prayer for such an order was before the court.

However, in a statement on Monday, the lawyers’ association said it would continue conferring the Blue Silks rank on lawyers that meet the criteria, in line with a pronouncement by the Supreme Court.

“Hon. Justice Omotosho’s judgment on the Blue Silks is a nullity, it (a judgment of the Federal High Court) cannot nullify the previous and subsisting judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

“Therefore ALDRAP would continue to to confer the Blue Silks rank until the Supreme Court of Nigeria reverses all its subsisting judgments on jurisdiction and Section 238 of the Nigerian Constitution,” the statement signed by ALDRAP Executive Secretary, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, said.

ALDRAP specifically argued that Justice Omotosho’s judgment cannot override the verdict delivered by the Supreme Court on on May 8, 2020, in Ude Jones Udeogu v. Federal Republic of Nigeria & Ors (SC. 622C/2019) [2020] NGSC.

The association went further to insist that the Abuja Federal High Court presided by Justice Omotosho lacked the jurisdiction to adjudicate on the Blue Silks row because he (Justice Omotosho) had already been confirmed for elevation to the Court of Appeal at the time he handled the suit.

“Hon. Justice Omotosho’s judgment  cannot override the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s judgment in Ude Jones Udeogu v. Federal Republic of Nigeria & Ors (SC. 622C/2019) [2020] NGSC 1 delivered on May 8, 2020.

“Therefore, the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP) will abide by the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s judgment and continue to hold its Blue Silks conferment ceremony until the Supreme Court reverses itself.

“Hon. Justice Omotosho lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate on ALDRAP’s Blue Silks matter as he did on 13th May 2026.

“The Supreme Court of Nigeria in landmark cases like Utih v. Onoyivwe and Ohakim v. Agbaso (2010), famously described jurisdiction as the blood that gives life to a lawsuit. If a court lacks the requisite authority to hear a case, the lawsuit is legally “dead,” akin to an animal drained of its blood. Any attempt to proceed without it is considered a futile exercise.

“The judgment delivered by Hon. Justice Omotosho remains a nullity because at time he sat on the said matter he possessed no jurisdiction having been confirmed for elevation to the Court of Appeal.

“Section 238 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 clearly states that Hon. Justice Omotosho ought to have remitted the Blue Silks matter to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for re-assisgnment to another judge so that the matter should be adjudicated de novo (afresh). See Ude Jones Udeogu v. Federal Republic of Nigeria & Ors (SC. 622C/2019) [2020] NGSC 1. In this ruling, delivered on May 8, 2020,” the statement added.