Former First Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association, John Aikpokpo-Martins, Esq., has faulted the claim that the NBA conferred on itself the power to issue and enforce the Practice Stamp, insisting that the authority for the stamp regime derives from the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners made by the General Council of the Bar.
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Aikpokpo-Martins stated this in response to a position expressed by the past Chairman of the NBA Bwari Branch and former 2nd Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chukwuemeka Clement, popularly known as Democrat, on the recent Federal High Court judgment concerning the Continuing Professional Development programme and the NBA Practice Stamp.
He said he had no issue with the bulk of Clement’s submissions and admonitions, but disagreed with the assertion that the NBA could not confer power on itself and enforce same against its members.
According to him, the statement that the NBA acted by conferring power on itself was inaccurate, as the power to issue the Practice Stamp was not self-created by the association.
“The Nigerian Bar Association did not confer on itself the power to issue and enforce the Practice Stamp,” he said.
Aikpokpo-Martins explained that the authority to issue the Practice Stamp comes from the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, which he described as subsidiary legislation made by the General Council of the Bar.
He noted that the General Council of the Bar is a statutory body created under the Legal Practitioners Act, with the mandate to make and review rules of professional conduct for legal practitioners in Nigeria.
According to him, the GCB stands on the same legal footing as other statutory bodies within the legal profession, including the Body of Benchers, the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, and the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee.
He, however, lamented that the General Council of the Bar had over the years been systematically weakened, while the Body of Benchers had, in his view, been elevated beyond its statutory remit and had gradually encroached on functions reserved for the GCB.
Aikpokpo-Martins recalled that during the 2022 to 2024 session of the GCB, NBA representatives made efforts to revive the Council’s statutory role, but alleged that the NBA leadership at the time frustrated those efforts.
He said it was wrong to suggest that the NBA arrogated to itself the power to issue the stamp, stressing that the power was conferred on the NBA by the GCB acting within its statutory competence.
“The GCB is not an organ of the NBA. On the contrary, it exercises statutory oversight over all legal practitioners, including members of the NBA, in matters of professional conduct,” he said.
He argued that the persistent attempt to diminish the GCB had rendered it largely moribund, and that this neglect partly explains why its decisions and instruments are often disregarded, even by the courts.
On the issue of enforcement, Aikpokpo-Martins said it was also incorrect to claim that the NBA enforces the use of the stamp.
According to him, enforcement is carried out by the courts, which insist on the stamp because it has statutory backing under the relevant provision of the RPC made by the GCB.
He maintained that the NBA’s role in the stamp regime is administrative and custodial, not adjudicatory or coercive.
“The NBA’s role is administrative and custodial, not adjudicatory or coercive,” he stated.
He also warned that the next line of attack may be the argument that the NBA, being a private and voluntary association, has no power to receive or administer a portion of the Bar Practising Fee.
He described such a position as ironic, noting that the same NBA is constitutionally recognised and participates in the appointment processes of judicial officers under the National Judicial Council.
Aikpokpo-Martins further claimed that the NBA had been under sustained attack since the administration of Olumide Akpata, adding that many battles fought to preserve the standing of the association were not known to members.
He expressed concern that some leaders of the Bar may not fully appreciate the magnitude of what is at stake.
According to him, if wisdom and strategic navigation are absent, the NBA risks becoming a shadow of itself within the next decade.
He regretted that what he described as a mission to reduce the NBA to a “pussy cat” was being driven from within by lawyers themselves.
His comments followed a broader debate triggered by the recent Federal High Court judgment on CPD and the NBA Stamp and Seal regime.
Clement had argued that the court did not condemn CPD or Stamp and Seal as bad ideas, but held that policy ambition could not create jurisdiction.
According to Clement, the NBA, as presently constituted under the Legal Practitioners Act, lacked statutory authority to unilaterally make the schemes mandatory conditions for practice in their current form.
He maintained that good policy without lawful authority remains unlawful policy, adding that the problem was not the usefulness of CPD or Stamp and Seal, but the method of implementation.
Clement also criticised what he described as the use of CPD credit points to deny lawyers stamps and seals, arguing that such a practice wrongly conflates competence development with the right to practise law.
He said the NBA should use the judgment as an opportunity to reset, seek proper statutory backing, engage stakeholders, and separate CPD from the right to practice.
The debate also comes after the NBA, through its General Secretary, Dr. Mobolaji Ojibara, reassured lawyers, courts, court registries and the public that the NBA Stamp and Seal policy remains valid, extant and enforceable.
The NBA had said the Federal High Court judgment could not be interpreted as overriding the binding decision of the Supreme Court in All Progressives Congress v. General Bello Sarkin Yaki & Anor, where the apex court affirmed the legal effect of the Stamp and Seal requirement under the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The association said the Supreme Court had already held that a court process filed without the approved stamp and seal is not null and void, but is improperly filed and may be regularised by subsequently affixing the stamp and seal.
The NBA also maintained that the Stamp and Seal regime was introduced to protect the integrity of legal practice, curb impersonation and prevent quacks from masquerading as legal practitioners.
The ongoing disagreement has now opened a wider conversation within the Bar on the legal foundation of the Stamp and Seal regime, the proper scope of CPD enforcement, the role of the General Council of the Bar, and the future regulatory structure of the legal profession in Nigeria.
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