The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, is set to swear in the 62 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) whose appointment was announced on September 29.
A statement yesterday in Abuja by Supreme Court’s Director of Information, Dr. Festus Akande, said the event, earlier planned for November 21, was shifted to November 28 to accommodate other activities of the court.
The statement said the swearing-in, scheduled for the court’s main courtroom, forms “one of the several programs planned to formally usher in the 2022/2023 Legal Year of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“Going by our age-long tradition, during such programs, the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria will deliver a state-of-the-Judiciary address, which is ostensible to highlight the performance of the Supreme Court and, by extension, the Nigerian Judiciary, in the outgoing 2021/2022 legal year.
“It will be recalled that out of the 174 applicants for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2022, 62 were successful at the end of the rigorous exercise. Out of this number, 53 are advocates while nine others are academics.
“The earlier announced date of November 21, 2022, to swear in the newly appointed Senior Advocates had to be shifted to the new date of November 28, 2022, to accommodate other programs slated for the court’s new legal year.
“The Supreme Court commenced its annual vacation after a highly eventful and remarkably successful 2021/2022 legal year on Monday, July 23, 2022.
“Though the court had started sitting since September 12, 2022, the new legal year ceremony is now being formally held in line with our tradition.
“All the programs billed to mark the commencement of the new legal year are to begin at 10:00 a.m in the main courtroom of the Supreme Court,” the statement said.
