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Lawyers Question Conferment Of Senior Advocate Of Nigeria On Wole Olanipekun’s Son

Some Nigerian lawyers are questioning the decision by the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) to include the son of a prominent lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, among 21 lawyers elevated today to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

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The LPPC today approved Dr. Oladapo Olumide Olanipekun along with 20 others for formal investiture as SANs, the highest rank for practicing Nigerian attorneys.

In separate interviews with SaharaReporters, three Nigerian lawyers alleged that the LPPC erred in awarding the SAN rank to Olabode, whose father, Wole Olanipekun, is one of Nigeria’s most prominent attorneys. The older Olanipekun was a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

“I don’t believe the criteria for awarding the rank of SAN was met by Oladapo [Olanipekun],” one Abuja-based lawyer, himself a SAN, told our correspondent on condition of anonymity.

Another lawyer, who is not a SAN yet, dismissed Oladapo Olanipekun’s elevation as “a case of sheer nepotism,” adding that the LPPC “has been known for such nepotistic practice in the past.”

Oladapo Olanipekun holds a PhD in law,his linkedin page stated he studied for his PhD between 2005 and 2009. The website of his father’s law firm, which features his short bio did not list his date of graduation from the University of Lagos and the Nigerian law school.

All three lawyers who spoke to our correspondent said they were certain that the younger Olanipekun did not fulfill the requirement that each candidate for SAN must have had an unbroken legal practice for at least ten years.

“There are many other distinguished lawyers who have met that 10-year threshold and who were invited among the fifty candidates earlier shortlisted for the SAN honor. They were all interviewed in July, but left out when Olabode was chosen, despite the fact that he has not practiced for ten years,” one critic of this year’s roster of SANs said.

The younger Olanipekun reportedly began practicing law at his father’s chamber, Wole Olanipekun and Co, shortly after completing his PhD in law in 2009.

The list of latest SANs consists of 18 active lawyers, one of them a woman. The list also includes three university professors of law.

 Below is the list of Nigerian lawyers newly conferred with SAN today

 

PRESS RELEASE

The Legal Practitioner’s Privileges Committee at its 119th general meeting held today the 10th day of July 2015, conferred the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) as a mark of excellence to the under listed members of the Legal profession in the following order:-

Edward Kunav Ashiekaa, Esq.
Benson Sopulu Nwankwo, Esq.
Joseph Sunday Bamigboye, Esq.
Patrick Ocheja Okolo, Esq.
Professor Maxwell Michael Gidado, Esq.
Dr. Tahir Mamman, Oon, Esq.
Dr. Akinpelu Theophilus Onigbinde, Esq.
Ibrahim Kanje Bawa, Esq.
Samuel Otseilu Zibiri, Esq.

10. Adeniyi Ayodele Adegbonmire, Esq.

11. Aderibigbe Ade Adedeji, Esq.

12. Emmanuel Chinwenwo Aguma, Esq.

13. Dr. Muiz Adeyemi Banire, Esq.

14. Emeka Benson Etiaba, Esq.

15. Abimbola Ibironke Akeredolu., Esq.

16. Olumuyiwa Akinboro, Esq.

17. Gordy Uche, Esq.

18. Uchechukwu Valentine Obi, Esq.

19. Kehinde Kolawole Eleja, Esq.

20. Professor Paul Oboarenegbe Idornigie, Esq.

21. Dr. Oladapo Olumide Olanipekun, Esq.

Ahmed Gambo Saleh, Esq.

Chief Registrar/ Secretary

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Legal