Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has petitioned the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), urging it to deny the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Sulyman Ibrahim, the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) over allegations of abusing his office’s prosecutorial powers to pursue politically motivated criminal cases.
In the petition, Mr Saraki, a former governor of Kwara State, asked the committee to investigate what he described as Mr Ibrahim’s repeated misuse of prosecutorial powers and to withhold his elevation to the rank of SAN pending the outcome of the inquiry.
Mr Saraki’s petition dated 25 May and supported by his affidavit sworn on 9 July cited two cases of prosecutions he accused Mr Sulyman of launching maliciously against him this year.
One of the cases, according to him, involved alleged “trumped-up” charges the attorney-general instituted against him in April regarding the concluded 2018 Offa, Kwara State, robbery case. In the other case, he said, Mr Ibrahim charged him under the Penal Code for posting on social media that incumbent Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq did not complete his secondary school.
He said the police and the Department of Public Prosecutions of the Federation investigated, prosecuted and had the suspects in the Offa robbery incident jailed, while also clearing him of any connection to the crime.
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“My Lord, since the conclusion of the definitive 2018 investigation, the Nigeria Police Force has neither reopened the case nor conducted any fresh inquiry indicting me or the other co-defendants,” he stated, accusing Mr Ibrahim of deploying “the sacred, constitutional powers of the Office of the Attorney General under section 211 of the Nigerian constitution, not for the promotion of justice,” but as “a political weapon.”
Regarding his social media post, Mr Saraki stated that it is unfathomable how his remark about Governor Abdulrazaq not completing secondary school could provoke the governor and the Kwara State Government into a breach of peace as alleged in the charges instituted by the attorney-general.
“I state categorically that the attitude, official conduct and apparent professional desperation of the applicant, Senior Sulyman Ibrahim, Esq, (the current Attorney General of Kwara State), completely fall short of the high standard of integrity, honour, and professional ethics,” Mr Saraki wrote in his petition.
“Further, by his conduct, Senior Sulyman Ibrahim, Esq, has brought the Nigerian Bar into disrepute in that he preferred, or caused to be preferred, charges whcih he knows or ought to know have no basis in law and were merely designed as political weapon against me.”
Mr Saraki stated that his petition followed the LPPC’s publication of the list of candidates shortlisted for the 2026 SAN conferment and its invitation to members of the public to submit comments or objections regarding the integrity, professional competence and reputation of the nominees.
Mr Saraki noted that Mr Ibrahim is listed as number 56 on the shortlist.
The LPPC is expected to announce the final list of successful applicants for the SAN rank between July and August, ahead of inauguration during the Supreme Court’s new legal year ceremony in September.
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His petition was addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, in her capacity as chairman of the LPPC, the statutory body with the power to confer the highly coveted SAN rank on deserving lawyers called to the bar who have distinguished themselves in law practice or in academics in Nigeria.
The former senate president maintained that the SAN rank is reserved not only for lawyers with outstanding professional accomplishments but also for those who have demonstrated integrity, fairness and the highest ethical standards throughout their careers.
Mr Saraki, who framed his petition as “a solemn duty to protect the integrity, sanctity and honour of the Inner Bar,” argued that Mr Ibrahim’s conduct as attorney general raises serious questions about his suitability for the country’s highest legal distinction.
Questions over ethical fitness
In the supporting affidavit, Mr Saraki stressed that he was competent to depose to the facts because of his direct involvement in preparing the petition and his personal knowledge of the issues it raises.
He argued that Mr Ibrahim’s conduct as attorney general falls short of the integrity, independence and professional ethics expected of lawyers seeking elevation to the Inner Bar.
According to Mr Saraki, the office of the attorney general is one of the most sensitive constitutional offices and must be exercised impartially, fairly and in the public interest. He contended that the powers attached to the office should never be deployed to advance partisan interests or pursue political opponents.
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Mr Saraki said his petition was not intended to question the authority of the LPPC or interfere with its constitutional responsibilities. Rather, he stated, it was aimed at drawing the committee’s attention to what he described as conduct that raises legitimate concerns about Mr Ibrahim’s ethical fitness for the SAN rank.
The petition centres on two criminal cases instituted against him by the Kwara State Government under Mr Ibrahim’s leadership as attorney general. Mr Saraki alleged that both prosecutions lacked legal justification and formed part of a sustained campaign of political persecution.
“I firmly state that the attitude, official conduct and apparent professional desperation of the applicant for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Senior Sulyman Ibrahim, fall far below the high standards of integrity, honour and professional ethics required of any legal practitioner worthy of elevation to the Inner Bar,” Mr Saraki stated in the affidavit.
