21 lawyers bag Senior Advocate of Nigeria title.

Lagos lawyer Festus Keyamo again
failed in his attempt to get the rank of
the Senior Advocate of Nigeria as the
Legal Practitioners' Privileges
Committee conferred the rank on 21
lawyers on Friday.
The successful lawyers include, National
Legal Adviser of the All Progressives
Congress, Dr. Muiz Banire, Dr. Oladapo
Olanipekun, who is a son of a former
President of the Nigerian Bar Association,
Chief Wole Olanipekun, and Emeka Etiaba,
a son of a former Deputy Governor of
Anambra State, and Mrs. Virgy Etiaba.
Also benefited were Legal Services of the
Independent National Electoral
Commission, Ibrahim Bawa; Edward
Ashiekaa, Benson Nwankwo, Joseph
Bamigboye, Patrick Okolo, Prof. Maxwell
Gidado, Dr. Tahir Mamman, and Dr.
Akinpelu Onigbinde.
Others were Samuel Zibiri, Adeniyi
Adegbonmire, Aderibigbe Adedeji,
Emmanuel Aguma, Abimbola Akeredolu,
Olumuyiwa Akinboro, Gordy Uche,
Uchechukwu Obi, Kehinde Eleja and Prof.
Paul Idornigie.
Gidado, Mamman, and Idornigie were of
the academic category while the rest of
the 18 lawyers were conferred with the
rank as advocates.
The only female among the 21 successful
lawyers, Akeredolu, was one of the three
females in a total of 124 applicants that
applied for the rank when the application
entry opened in January.
Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court and
Secretary to the LPPC, Ahmed Saleh,
announced the name of the successful
lawyers at a press conference on Friday.
He said the rank was conferred on the 21
lawyers at the 119th general meeting of
the LPPC on Friday "as a mark of
excellence to the under listed members of
the legal profession."
The 21 lawyers were selected after an
interview of the 50 shortlisted candidates
held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Keyamo was shortlisted for the final
interview last year but did not make the
final list. This made the second time he
got so close to getting the rank after
previous attempts that failed to earn him
an opportunity for the final interview.
Also, a former National Adviser of the
Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olusola
Oke, who is now an APC member, was
also shortlisted for this year's final
interview but failed to make the final list.
The LPPC secretary, while briefing
journalists, said 124 applicants applied
for the rank.
Saleh said the 21 lawyers would be sworn
in on September 21 at a special court
session marking the beginning of the
2015/2016 legal year.
The new SANs will join 408 lawyers both
living and dead who had been conferred
with the rank since its inception in 1975.