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  Africcon Report: Privileges committee shuns suit on SAN’s suspension
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  Fidelity Bank Plc was on Tuesday left alone to oppose the suit filed by Chief Ajibola Aribisala challenging his suspension from using the Senior Advocate of Nigeria title by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee.
  
  The LPPC, sued along with the bank by Aribisala, refused to appear before a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, on Tuesday.
  
  No lawyer has represented the LPPC since the commencement of the suit and no one has filed any court papers to defend the committee’s February 26 decision to suspend the claimant.
  
  The development consequently left the bank, whose petition to the LPPC informed the suspension of Aribisala from using the SAN title, to defend the suit alone.
  
  Justice Adefope-Okojie after hearing parties’ arguments, fixed June 26, to deliver a joint ruling on the preliminary objection filed by the bank and Aribisala’s application for mandatory injunction seeking the court to compel LPPC to restore his title.
  
  In its preliminary objection dated March 7, 2013, the bank, through its counsel, Seyi Sowemimo (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
  
  Sowemimo had argued that the LPPC being a Federal Government establishment, the case could only be at the Federal High Court and not before a state High Court.
  
  Urging the court to strike out the suit with substantial cost against the claimant, Sowemimo said Aribisala’s suit was defective because there was no indication that he sought the leave of court to serve LPPC out of jurisdiction.
  
  But Aribisala’s lawyer, Chief Tunji Ayanlaja (SAN), urged the court to ignore the bank’s argument, insisting that “the mere mention of the federal legislation or of a matter in the Exclusive Legislative List in a case does not make the case a proper one for the Federal High Court to have jurisdiction to entertain”.
  
  Describing the bank as a “busy body”, Ayanlaja said LPPC should have been the right party to raise the issue of the court’s lack of jurisdiction.
  
  He added that the bank had failed to raise the issue of jurisdiction in its statement of defence in compliance with the rules.
  
  He also submitted that the LPPC failed and or ignored to file counter affidavit and written address in opposition to the claimant’s application for interlocutory injunction.
  
  However, Sowemimo argued that the rank of a SAN was a privilege and not a right hence the rights of the claimant had not been infringed upon.
  
  He urged the court to refuse the application.