Chief Wole Olanipekun, CFR, OFR, SAN, has told the Supreme Court that there is only one Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, delivering what he described as a message from the body’s leader, Chief Folake Solanke, SAN.
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He was speaking at the special session of the Court marking the commencement of the 2026/2027 legal year, at which 68 legal practitioners were conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“I bring felicitations to your Lordships and the entire judiciary of Nigeria, represented on this occasion by the Supreme Court, on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, hereinafter referred to as BOSAN, particularly at the behest of our leader, Chief Folake Solanke, SAN, who recently assumed the leadership of BOSAN after the transition of our immediate past leader, that indomitable jurist and scholar, Professor Alfred Kasunmu, SAN.”
He described Chief Solanke as “an equally critical jurist of the highest order: the first woman Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a matriarch, a leader, an Amazon, a role model, on whose behalf I deliver this address.”
@thenigerialawyer“There Is Only One BOSAN; We Are A Body, Not An Association Or League” — Olanipekun, SAN, Tells Supreme Court, New Silks, Says “There Is Nothing Like Blue Silk”♬ original sound – TheNigeriaLawyer
He also recorded a point about the body’s own structure:
“May we make this clear. The Honourable the Attorney-General of the Federation, wherever he is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, constitutionally or by our Constitution, is the Chairman of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria.”
Immediately before delivering the message, he spoke of the relationship between the two sides of the profession.
“I want you to appreciate the relationship between the bar and the bench. [Oputa, JSC] said: twins in the administration of justice. We are twins. Siamese twins, the bench and the bar.”
“And please, don’t undermine the bar. Don’t undermine the bench. Don’t undermine the legal profession.”
“May I plead, and I have this message from our leader, Chief Folake Solanke, about BOSAN. And I have come to deliver her message to you, my noble Lord, and to all [members of BOSAN], that there is only one BOSAN. We are a body. It is not an association. It is not a league.”
“We are just like the Body of Benchers.”
“There is nothing like Senior Advocates of Nigeria practising in Lagos. There is nothing like Senior Advocates of Nigeria practising in [Abuja] or [Ilorin]. There is nothing like Senior Advocates of Nigeria practising in Ikere, where I come from. There is only one body: the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria.”
“On her behalf, we say that [to] every branch, to any member of [BOSAN], and also to the judiciary: please cooperate with us. We are cooperating with your Lordships. This matter should be settled once and for all.”
He put the point to the newly conferred Senior Advocates by reference to their own induction, held two days earlier.
“And to those of our members who have been called today: recall that just this Saturday you had an extensive induction course. Who organised it for you? It was BOSAN. Not ‘body of senior advocates’, or ‘lawyers or senior advocates practising in Lagos’.”
And by reference to their own applications for the rank:
“And when you are applying for the silk, you never put it there that you are a legal practitioner practising anywhere. You said you are a legal practitioner.”
He then widened the point from geography within Nigeria to the reach of the rank itself.
“By the way, any Senior Advocate of Nigeria has not just the entire nation as his constituency but the entire globe. These days you practise everywhere.”
“Senior Advocates of Nigeria, you are [King’s] Counsel. Go to Ghana, go to Britain, to Canada, to anywhere. Don’t restrict yourself. Don’t deflate your currency.”
“Beat your chest by saying that I am a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and that the world is right at my feet.”
“There is nothing like blue silk. There is nothing like blue silk.”
“The rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria is regulated by law [throughout] the Federation.”
“The doyen and the pioneers, the patriarchs of the Bar, [Rotimi] Williams and Dr. Graham-Douglas: they were the first two. And look at you, the heritage you have.”
“I want to plead with those of our colleagues: the [other] time will come, [when we vote] for the silk. It is not a person or somebody sitting somewhere to say, ‘I wear the blue silk.’ There is nothing like that.”
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