Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) over the planned conferment of the rank of senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on Senior Sulyman Ibrahim, Kwara’s state attorney-general and commissioner for justice.
The CJN chairs the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee
(LPPC), the body responsible for conferring the SAN rank.
In a petition dated May 25, 2026 and seen by TheCable,
Saraki said Ibrahim’s official conduct “completely falls short of the high
standard of integrity, honour, and professional ethics required of any
practitioner worthy of being elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior
Advocate of Nigeria”.
The former senate president alleged that the Kwara
attorney-general brought the legal profession into “disrepute” by preferring or
causing to be preferred charges that “he knows or ought to have known have no
basis in law and were merely designed as a political weapon against me”.
Saraki said his petition is premised on two grounds —
malicious prosecution and abuse of constitutional powers, and frivolous penal
code charge and violation of due process.
The former Kwara governor said despite being cleared by the
federal government’s department of public prosecutions (DPP) over the 2018 Offa
robbery, Ibrahim filed charges against him and two others.
Saraki said the charges were “deliberately timed and
designed to cause grave public embarrassment, inflict reputational damage, and
maliciously de-market me politically”.
“Crucially, prior to the filing of this charge, I was
neither invited by the police for questioning nor confronted with any
allegations whatsoever,” part of the petition reads.
“I only became aware of the proceedings when the court
processes were pasted on the gate at my residence in Ilorin, commanding my
appearance in court on June 10, 2026.
“It is against this backdrop, and the applicant’s recurrent
instances of gross abuse of power, that I respectfully urge you to thoroughly
scrutinise his candidacy and consider his suitability before conferring such a
revered privilege upon him.
“The rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria is reserved
exclusively for legal practitioners who have demonstrated exemplary character,
absolute fidelity to the rule of law, and an unyielding commitment to the due
administration of justice.
“It must never be conferred upon a practitioner who uses
state prosecutorial machinery to wage personal or political vendettas.
“By weaponizing the criminal justice system for ulterior
motives, Sulyman Ibrahim, Esq. has brought disrepute to the legal profession
and shown that he lacks the emotional detachment, fairness, and ministerial
integrity expected of a minister in the temple of justice.”
The former senate president also deposed to an affidavit at
the Kwara high court to support the petition.
In April, the Kwara state government filed a 20-count charge
against Saraki and Abdulfatah Ahmed, former governor of the state, over
allegations of arming suspects convicted of robbery in Offa.
Other defendants in the case are Yusuf Abdulwahab, a former
chief of staff to Ahmed, and Alabi Olalekan, another aide.
Recently, a total of 89 applicants were shortlisted by LPPC
for the conferment of SAN rank.
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