The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) that awards the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to legal practitioners, said on Wednesday that it may refer the conduct of bloggers who are legal practitioners to the appropriate disciplinary committee of Body of Benchers.
LPPC gave the warning after an online
Probably owned by some lawyers published an article tagged” New list of successful candidates after second filtration exercise pursuant to Rule 11 of the legal practitioners Privileges Committee guidelines ,2018.”
Similar incident last year nearly mar and discredited LPPC selection process that saw 72 lawyers conferred with the rank. A list containing the names was in circulation before the official announcement.
A statement by Dr. Akande Festus , the Director of Press and Information Supreme Court of Nigeria stated that attention has been drawn to a story by an online medium with the above caption with a purported list of successful candidates that emerged after the second filtration exercise by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC).
“We wish to state clearly that the above information is fake, unofficial and untrue. It’s a mere figment of the imagination of the authors who may ostensibly be on a mission to impugn and malign the reputation and integrity of the LPPC with a view to causing confusion and skepticism in the public space.”
“The information should be discountenanced by whosoever might have come across it. For the umpteenth time, we wish to let the public know that any information, especially issues regarding the above topic can only emanate from the office of the LPPC Secretary/Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”
” Anything outside this official source should be disregarded, the statement added.
According the statement, “as has been the practice, all information concerning the LPPC, especially those bordering on the announcement of successful applicants for the award of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, are published in reputable national dailies and this year’s own will not be an exception.”
“The perpetrators of such illegal act would be apprehended and given appropriate sanctions to serve as deterrent to others that might be waiting in the queue to do same in the future.
“The LPPC Secretariat wishes to appeal to bloggers of various lawyers’ platforms to henceforth refrain from posting or publishing or aiding in the circulation of unauthorised materials or fake documents said to originate from Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee.
“The Committee may be forced to refer the conduct of such bloggers who are legal practitioners to the appropriate disciplinary committee of Body of Benchers. A word is enough for the wise.”
The committee assured esteemed legal community and the general public that “the authentic official list of the successful applicants that emerged from the second filtration exercise by the LPPC will be made public through advertorials in the national dailies in due course.”