Tinubu’s Legal Practitioners Bill Targets Capture of Nigeria’s Bar, Undermines Independence and Punishes NBA, Chidi Odinkalu Warns
In this opinion piece, human rights lawyer and former chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, delivers a scathing critique of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Legal Practitioners Bill, warning that it represents institutional capture, legislative reprisal, and a grave threat to the independence of Nigeria’s legal profession.
Odinkalu traces the origins of the proposed law to long-standing efforts to reform the Legal Practitioners Act of 1962, noting that despite widespread agreement on the need for modernization, deep divisions within the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Body of Benchers (BoB) derailed genuine reform. He argues that the new bill, now moving swiftly through the Senate, abandons the original vision of strengthening regulation in the public interest and instead concentrates power in the hands of a government-dominated Body of Benchers.
According to Odinkalu, the bill effectively transforms the BoB into a supreme regulator and owner of the legal profession, funded by the federal government and dominated by political office holders, senior judges, and government officials. He warns that this structure subordinates the NBA, erodes professional self-regulation, and compromises the independence of lawyers by placing discipline, admissions, and professional privileges under a body closely tied to the ruling government.
The article also highlights what Odinkalu describes as acts of reprisal, including the exclusion of the NBA president from the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee unless they are a Senior Advocate of Nigeria — a move he links directly to the election of a non-SAN NBA president in 2020. He further criticises provisions granting the BoB oversight over the conferment and withdrawal of the SAN rank, arguing that this entrenches unaccountable power and shields elites from discipline.
Odinkalu contends that the bill’s ambitions are both unrealistic and dangerous, particularly its attempt to assert control over legal services connected to Nigeria even beyond its borders, and its tone-deaf treatment of foreign and dual-qualified Nigerian lawyers. He concludes that if passed in its current form, the Legal Practitioners Bill will not reform the profession but instead create a new class of “super lawyers” whose influence will be built on access and power rather than integrity, marking a tragic failure of a long-overdue reform effort.
In this opinion piece, human rights lawyer and former chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, delivers a scathing critique of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Legal Practitioners Bill, warning that it represents institutional capture, legislative reprisal, and a grave threat to the independence of Nigeria’s legal profession.
Odinkalu traces the origins of the proposed law to long-standing efforts to reform the Legal Practitioners Act of 1962, noting that despite widespread agreement on the need for modernization, deep divisions within the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Body of Benchers (BoB) derailed genuine reform. He argues that the new bill, now moving swiftly through the Senate, abandons the original vision of strengthening regulation in the public interest and instead concentrates power in the hands of a government-dominated Body of Benchers.
According to Odinkalu, the bill effectively transforms the BoB into a supreme regulator and owner of the legal profession, funded by the federal government and dominated by political office holders, senior judges, and government officials. He warns that this structure subordinates the NBA, erodes professional self-regulation, and compromises the independence of lawyers by placing discipline, admissions, and professional privileges under a body closely tied to the ruling government.
The article also highlights what Odinkalu describes as acts of reprisal, including the exclusion of the NBA president from the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee unless they are a Senior Advocate of Nigeria — a move he links directly to the election of a non-SAN NBA president in 2020. He further criticises provisions granting the BoB oversight over the conferment and withdrawal of the SAN rank, arguing that this entrenches unaccountable power and shields elites from discipline.
Odinkalu contends that the bill’s ambitions are both unrealistic and dangerous, particularly its attempt to assert control over legal services connected to Nigeria even beyond its borders, and its tone-deaf treatment of foreign and dual-qualified Nigerian lawyers. He concludes that if passed in its current form, the Legal Practitioners Bill will not reform the profession but instead create a new class of “super lawyers” whose influence will be built on access and power rather than integrity, marking a tragic failure of a long-overdue reform effort.
Tinubu’s Legal Practitioners Bill Targets Capture of Nigeria’s Bar, Undermines Independence and Punishes NBA, Chidi Odinkalu Warns
In this opinion piece, human rights lawyer and former chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, delivers a scathing critique of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Legal Practitioners Bill, warning that it represents institutional capture, legislative reprisal, and a grave threat to the independence of Nigeria’s legal profession.
Odinkalu traces the origins of the proposed law to long-standing efforts to reform the Legal Practitioners Act of 1962, noting that despite widespread agreement on the need for modernization, deep divisions within the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Body of Benchers (BoB) derailed genuine reform. He argues that the new bill, now moving swiftly through the Senate, abandons the original vision of strengthening regulation in the public interest and instead concentrates power in the hands of a government-dominated Body of Benchers.
According to Odinkalu, the bill effectively transforms the BoB into a supreme regulator and owner of the legal profession, funded by the federal government and dominated by political office holders, senior judges, and government officials. He warns that this structure subordinates the NBA, erodes professional self-regulation, and compromises the independence of lawyers by placing discipline, admissions, and professional privileges under a body closely tied to the ruling government.
The article also highlights what Odinkalu describes as acts of reprisal, including the exclusion of the NBA president from the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee unless they are a Senior Advocate of Nigeria — a move he links directly to the election of a non-SAN NBA president in 2020. He further criticises provisions granting the BoB oversight over the conferment and withdrawal of the SAN rank, arguing that this entrenches unaccountable power and shields elites from discipline.
Odinkalu contends that the bill’s ambitions are both unrealistic and dangerous, particularly its attempt to assert control over legal services connected to Nigeria even beyond its borders, and its tone-deaf treatment of foreign and dual-qualified Nigerian lawyers. He concludes that if passed in its current form, the Legal Practitioners Bill will not reform the profession but instead create a new class of “super lawyers” whose influence will be built on access and power rather than integrity, marking a tragic failure of a long-overdue reform effort.
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