The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) has suspended prominent constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Professor Mike Ozekhome, from the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
The sweeping regulatory directive was made public on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, following a decisive resolution reached during the LPPC’s 173rd General Meeting held a day prior, on Tuesday, June 23
In an official statement signed by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Secretary of the LPPC, Mallam Kabir Akanbi, the apex legal disciplinary committee directed that the suspension takes immediate effect.
By the order of the committee, Professor Ozekhome must immediately strip his legal branding of the elite title and is barred from operating within the inner bar of Nigerian courts until further notice.
“Accordingly, Chief Mike Ozekhome shall refrain from parading himself, presenting himself, or otherwise holding himself out as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria pending the final determination of the disciplinary proceedings,” the official statement read.
The LPPC explained that the severe regulatory intervention was invoked pursuant to Paragraph 26(6) of the Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and all Matters Pertaining to the Rank.
According to the regulatory body, the suspension was deemed necessary as an interim measure to safeguard the public prestige, integrity, and dignity associated with Nigeria’s highest legal rank. The action remains a holding directive pending the conclusion of formal investigations currently active before the Disciplinary and Ethics Sub-Committee of the LPPC, alongside other related proceedings.
“The LPPC remains committed to upholding the highest standards of professional ethics, integrity, and discipline within the legal profession and to ensuring that the Rank of Senior Advocate of
The suspension of Ozekhome, who was originally conferred with the elite rank in 2009 and has spent decades spearheading high-profile constitutional law and human rights battles across Nigeria’s superior courts, has sent ripples through the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
While the LPPC’s official brief deliberately withheld the specific petitions or professional misconduct allegations being reviewed by its Disciplinary and Ethics Sub-Committee, legal analysts note that the development comes amid an intensified regulatory push by the apex bench to sanitise the inner bar and curb the filing of controversial political motions.
Spokespersons for Professor Ozekhome’s chambers have not yet issued a formal response to the LPPC’s directive, but senior legal actors expect the human rights advocate to vigorously defend his professional record before the ethics panel to lift the interim restriction ahead of the upcoming 2027 legal year.
