Al Drap Maintains Blue Silks Despite Restraining Order, Claims Judgment Contradicts Supreme Court Decision

Despite a judgment from the Abuja Federal High Court that barred it from awarding the Blue Silks rank to Nigerian lawyers, the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP) has announced it will proceed with the conferral.

ALDRAP introduced the Blue Silks rank as an alternative to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title, which is granted to lawyers deemed to have earned the honour.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has rejected the Blue Silks rank, calling it illegal. The NBA’s Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), which is responsible for conferring the SAN title, warned that lawyers who display the Blue Silks rank risk sanctions for professional misconduct.

In response to the threat, ALDRAP approached the Abuja Federal High Court to protect its members’ fundamental rights and to prevent the NBA and others from interfering with the Blue Silks rank.

However, the court, presided over by Justice James Omotosho, ruled in favour of the NBA and other respondents, and issued a perpetual injunction restraining ALDRAP and its Executive Secretary, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, from continuing to confer the Blue Silks rank.

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

In a statement released on Monday, the association said it would continue to award the Blue Silks rank to lawyers who meet the criteria, citing a pronouncement by the Supreme Court.

“Hon. Justice Omotosho’s judgment on the Blue Silks is a nullity; a judgment of the Federal High Court cannot nullify the previous and subsisting judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria,” the statement read. “Therefore ALDRAP will continue 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,” signed by ALDRAP Executive Secretary Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja.

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

The association further insisted that the Abuja Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Omotosho, lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the Blue Silks dispute because he 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 8 May 2020,” the statement continued. “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 13 May 2026,” the statement added. “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 the time he sat on the matter he possessed no jurisdiction having been confirmed for elevation to the Court of Appeal,” the statement said. “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‑assignment to another judge so that the matter should be adjudicated de novo. See Ude Jones Udeogu v. Federal Republic of Nigeria & Ors (SC. 622C/2019) [2020] NGSC 1 delivered on 8 May 2020.”