*Says “No Judge Has The Right To Create His Or Her Own Jurisprudence Outside Precedent”
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Chief Wole Olanipekun, CFR, OFR, SAN, has delivered the address of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria at the special session of the Supreme Court marking the commencement of the 2026/2027 legal year and the conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria on 68 legal practitioners.
What follows is his address, as delivered.
He sought leave to adopt the protocol read by the Chief Justice and by the Attorney-General of the Federation.
“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 gave the date of Professor Kasunmu’s death as 9 August 2026.
“One person who [is] surely missing. We thank God for [the] succession, but an equally critical jurist of the highest order: the first woman Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a matriarch, a leader, an Amazon, a role model, Chief Folake Solanke, on whose behalf I deliver this address.”
He paused to record a constitutional point about the body he was speaking for:
“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.”
“AN ANCIENT PROFESSIONAL RITE ROOTED IN COMMON LAW”
“The significance of this occasion is underscored by the rare privilege of a convergence comprising the bar and the bench, being the core components of the legal profession.”
“That the momentousness of the elevation of worthy members of the profession into the Inner Bar and their conferment with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria is by no means lost. The fact that there is a convocation for exchange and cross-fertilisation of ideas, interface, suggestions and critical engagements between us is very apt and valuable.”
“Celebrating the new legal year is not a convergence to celebrate pomp and pageantry alone. My Lord, it is an ancient professional rite rooted in common law, where the bench and the bar converge at the beginning of the season to renew their vows to judicial service and public service.”
“Over time, that solemn procession at Westminster Abbey, of judges and [King’s] Counsel in their full ceremonial robes, and the Lord Chancellor’s breakfast, became the symbolic emblem of the continuity of law.”
He quoted the bidding of the Dean of Westminster at the service marking the opening of the 2020 legal year in England:
“At the beginning of the legal year, we gather in the presence of Almighty God, who is the judge of all and who knows the secrets of our hearts, to renew our commitment to the service of the Crown and to all manner of people, that we may together do what is right. We acknowledge a shared high calling, a common commitment to justice that all can recognise, done without fear or favour, affection or ill will.”
“Even in non-Commonwealth countries like the United States of America, we have similar rites, as we are gathered here performing today. Nigeria, as a common law jurisdiction, received not merely the technical rules of English law but also some of the nobler institutional ceremonies.”
“THE UMBILICAL CORD THAT BINDS THEM TOGETHER”
“BOSAN appreciates my Lord the Honourable the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the entire judiciary for their tireless efforts within the year under review.”
“Of course, the judicial arm occupies a pre-eminent position, given the fact that it is the main stem into which all tributaries of disputes, whether from the other arms of government or between citizens’ interests, come for adjudication.”
“Yours is a high calling. You are upholding justice in trust for God.“
“I have been saying it, and I want to repeat it on behalf of BOSAN, that we started this democratic journey in 1999, but for the judiciary we would not be witnessing [anything] other than what we have today.”
“We must not be mistaken for pretending that the judiciary has attained a state of utopia. No, we are not saying that. But we say that, as between the three arms of government, the judiciary remains the umbilical cord that binds them together. You are the glue that binds everything together.”
THE YEAR’S DECISIONS
“A reflection of what happened within the past one year, particularly at the Supreme Court from the last time we were here on 29 September 2025 to date: the Supreme Court has characteristically enriched our jurisprudence, and indeed the corpus of Nigerian case law, with flourishing pronouncements which are very recondite.”
He referenced a number of them:
- Noble Drilling Nigeria Limited v [Maza], which he said the Court decided on 12 December 2025, and which “remarkably intervened in some grey areas in the maritime [sector]”. He called the decision “a watershed”.
- A decision of the same date in ADB Nigeria Limited v [Niger] River Ventures, “where the Court emphasised the exclusive nature of the admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal High Court”.
- Attorney-General of [a] State v Attorney-General of the Federation, “a landmark case in which [this Court] defined and came to a conclusion on the position of local government chairmen, and whether or not a State Attorney-General can file an action against them”.
- Two matters he referred to as [Nkonde] Energy v FBN and [Nkonde] v FBN Quest, in which, he said, the Court “settled flourishing commercial matters which [had] become so daunting”.
- General Hydrocarbon v First Bank, “another matter which your Lordships settled within time”.
- And “lastly, Independent National Electoral Commission v [Zenith] Labour [Party], whereby [your Lordships] largely and characteristically settled the grey areas arising from the Electoral Act of 2026″.
“The above represent a fraction, among others, arising from appeals [heard] by the Supreme Court within the past one year.”
“A good number of them are commercial-related matters. And [we] pose a query: what if there is no Supreme Court to entertain the appeals? What if the subject matter of the appeals giving rise to these decisions, and several others, ended or terminated at the Court of Appeal?“
“NO JUDGE HAS THE RIGHT TO CREATE HIS OR HER OWN JURISPRUDENCE”
“It is worthy of note that within the past one year, the perception or complaint of inconsistency in the decisions of the Supreme Court has abated. We want to appreciate your Lordships for this, because certainty of law is so important. Not just important, my Lord, it is imperative.”
“But if we may ask: this improvement that we are witnessing, we want it, we are pleading, BOSAN is pleading, that it should percolate to the lower courts.”
“Jurisprudence is based on precedent, and no judge has the right to create his or her own jurisprudence outside precedent. The Supreme Court does not do that, and in this address we have highlighted the fact that it is only the Supreme Court that has the right to re-evaluate, to review, to set aside, to moderate its previous decisions. The Court of Appeal does not. The lower court does not.“
“A system whereby lower courts will not apply decisions of the Supreme Court and be bound by them, my Lord, we want to say it is not a situation that we should continue to encourage.”
“[Where] rules of uncertainty and instability are introduced into the system, the consequences may become immediate, widespread and irreparable. Certainty affords the confidence of litigants, of [court users], in the judicial system.”
SPEED, CONFIDENCE AND INVESTMENT
“Intertwined with this also is the relationship between speedy administration of justice and investment in the system.”
“Once people appreciate and have confidence in the administration of justice, that justice is speedy, that justice is fair, that justice is [blind], irrespective of the people, irrespective of the person, irrespective of the status, irrespective of the grade, then my Lord, the confidence of investors will be renewed.”
He cited the example of Britain, saying that 37 billion was generated in 2024 as revenue by the judiciary, by way of contribution to the economic viability of Britain. (The currency in which this figure was given is not clear from the record and is flagged below.)
“We encourage the judiciary to step it up, what your leadership is doing, in the quick dispensation of justice. The laudable trend should percolate, and we want to say that all High Courts, the Court of Appeal and all courts subordinate to the Supreme Court should emulate the good thing that this Court is doing.”
A NATIONAL PRECEDENT REPOSITORY, WITH AI-ASSISTED SEARCH
“The judicial gravitation towards technology is not only commendable but also highly encouraged.”
“To this end, this suggestion has been taken further by the development of a national judicial decisions and precedent repository. Such a national database will have each judgment indexed by the court, case title, date, subject matter and legislation.”
“An AI-assisted search and analysis will give judges and lawyers across the board the opportunity of [knowing] further judicial positions and pronouncements on any topical issue, so that subsequent decisions could be well guided.”
“This will go a long way in addressing the challenge of doctrinal inconsistency resulting in uncertainty in our precedent-based jurisprudence.”
“IT IS A WELCOME DEVELOPMENT, BUT IT IS NOT FAULTLESS”
“Optimism amidst discomfort. Since the coming into force of the electronic dispensation, legal practitioners have raised structural concerns about the reliability of the portal.”
“My Lords, we put it there in our address and we want your Lordships to look into it, so that we can make some amendments and we can make some adjustments. It is a welcome development, but my Lord, it is not faultless.“
THE COURT OF APPEAL AND THE APPLICATIONS THAT ARE NOT BEING TAKEN
“My Lord, we have this problem in our hands in the hearing of applications. Applications to the Court of Appeal: when an appeal is filed and an application for leave to appeal is filed before the Court of Appeal, what we have there today is that those applications are not taken. They are not taken.“
“On the pretext, on the ground, on the excuse that there is a decision of the Supreme Court to the effect that they cannot take that application.”
“My Lord, we have referenced that decision of the Supreme Court, with all respect to the Court of Appeal, to the registry of the Court of Appeal. That is not what that decision decided.“
“We want to plead, my Lord. It is a conundrum. We want to plead that something be done, and that your Lordship the Honourable the Chief Justice of Nigeria should look into it.”
“We have [scores] of applications at the Court of Appeal, and all lawyers here [know] that we have been directed by the registry that we should not [file] applications for leave to appeal. I am not aware that there is any decision of this Court to that effect.“
He added that the point concerns the impropriety of filing an application for leave to appeal at the appellate court before the expiration of the timeline for appeal, or where the lower court has not first considered and refused the application:
“That even in that type of application, we should first of all go to the Court of Appeal, not directly coming to the Supreme Court. That has not been the position. And we want both my Lord and the President of the Court of Appeal to look into this.“
“WE CAN’T COME HERE. WHERE ARE WE?”: THE LPDC APPEAL GAP
Turning to the Attorney-General’s remarks on the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, he said:
“My Lord, truth be told, we have a knotty problem in our hands.“
“By the decision of this apex Court, appeals from directives or directions of the LPDC cannot come to the Supreme Court. There should be a [Body of Benchers] appeal committee. There is also no appeal committee.“
“What do we do? Where are we? We can’t come here. Our legal practitioners who are affected, because right of appeal is constitutional.”
“They cannot come to the Supreme Court as they used to, or as it used to be. At the same time, there is no appeal committee in place. The LPDC is sitting and it has a right to sit. But what of the right, the constitutional right, of the lawyers who are affected by the directions of the LPDC?“
“Honourable Attorney-General, we want to appreciate you for what you are doing, but we have to do something about the amendment of the Legal Practitioners Act.”
“So that, going further, or taking it further from what the Honourable Attorney-General has proposed, we have to look into the interests of these lawyers, because as said by this Court in Josiah v The State, justice is not a one-way traffic. It is not even a two-way traffic. Not a three-way traffic. Justice for the system, justice for the public, justice for the accused person, and justice for the one who wants to appeal against the decision of the LPDC.”
TO THE NEW SILKS: “NOT FOR YOU TO LOSE YOUR HEAD”
“The Honourable Attorney-General was talking, I know he was talking in parables, of someone who has been there for about 36 years. This is my 36th year at the Inner Bar.“
“Yours is a high calling. Responsibility. To whom much is given, much is expected. We talk like fathers, like grandfathers nowadays.”
“You have been appointed as Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Not for you to lose your head. With all respect to you. Not for you to become so heady, so haughty, so rude.”
“Let me put it the other way round. It is for you to be humble. It is for you to be sober. It is for you to be very reflective. It is for you to be restrained. It is for you to be more responsible. It is for you to contribute meaningfully and effectively to the advancement of the legal profession, of our jurisprudence, and [of] the entire community.”
“It is not for you to put your hands in your pocket and put your feet on the table while addressing any court, even when you are in the High Court or in the Magistrate Court, and be pointing to the [bench] and saying, ‘You, you, you.'”
“[Show] courtesy, my noble Lord, your worship, when you are at the Magistrate Court, and to your colleagues at the Inner Bar or even at the Outer Bar.”
“Not for you to say, ‘Sit down! Who are you? What are you talking? Rubbish!’ Not for you to walk out of any court.“
“I am [45] years plus at the bar, and I can encourage you by saying that I have never, not even in a difficult [moment], walked out of any court.“
“I want you to be more sober. I want you to pray more. I want you to pray for success. 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.“
“THERE IS ONLY ONE BOSAN”
He then delivered what he described as a message from the leader of the body.
“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.“
“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 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.“
“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.“
THE ELECTION YEAR, AND THE PRESIDENT WHO ATTACKED HIS OWN SUPREME COURT
“For now, we [should not] deceive ourselves. Within the next one year, we are nearing the election year. The race might be rough, might be bumpy. There might be some cries in the air. There might be some accusations here and there.”
“And let us remind ourselves: accusing judges is no longer restricted to Nigeria. We witnessed what President Trump said to the Supreme Court, the Justices of the Supreme Court, because [they] gave judgment against him.”
“And again, let us remind ourselves: it was the same Supreme Court of the USA that created the platform for him to contest [the] election.“
“That is your calling. When judgment favours me, I hurrah the judiciary to the highest of heavens. I call on [Archangel] Gabriel. I say, ‘Oh, help me thank God for the judiciary.’ But when judgment is against me, I say, ‘Oh, the judges are bad.’“
“That is your calling. But one thing is important: your conscience.“
He closed by quoting the Chief Justice’s own words, delivered at a judiciary summit to herald the new legal year, which he said he attended.
“My Lord, it is a quotable quote, and I want to quote Your Lordship, if Your Lordship would grant permission: that for every case filed, there is a human soul.“
“Oh God. That there is a human element, there is a human apprehension, there is a human interest, [a] continuity between a case filed and the human soul. My Lord, it is a quotable quote. It will remain evergreen. It is not my quote, it is yours.“
“Our judges in the new legal year should appreciate what your Lordship has said: that for every file that comes before them, for every cause that comes before them, do not [treat it as an] artificial file. There is a human soul. There is a human element. There is a family interested in it.“
“And in our search we must apply judicial precedent. Justice must be firm. Justice must be certain. Justice must not be anything that one will say, ‘Oh, it is my own jurisprudence.’ It is a jurisprudence based on precedent, based on traditions, based on discipline.”
“It is on this note that we wish your Lordships a very fruitful legal year.”
To the new Senior Advocates:
“Will you be greater than us. Will you be more successful than us. Will your practice be more fruitful. And you may be, in the next 35 years, in 36 years, when you sit here, you will be advising and also be saying that the bar and the bench must remain one. You will get there. God bless you.”
“My Lord, may I appreciate your Lordships. Thank you.”
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