According to Monday Ubani, a former vice president of the Nigeria Bar Association, Governor Siminalayi Fubara would apologize to SAN Zacchaeus Adangor, the former attorney general of Rivers State, for saying he paid money to become a Senior Advocate. He said Governor Fubara was not involved in choosing candidates for the job because he is not a lawyer. He underlined that merit, acquired via a demanding procedure, not financial influence, is the basis for awarding SANs. He emphasized that, although he had the means, he had not obtained the SAN level as a thirty-plus-year veteran lawyer.

''He's not a lawyer and I don't think he (Fubara) has been involved in conferring this rank of silk to any of the attorneys,'' he stated in an interview with Channels TV. He was never a part of the process and is not an attorney. The sentence is out of sync. He'll apologize for saying that; it's not what I expected from a governor.

Furthermore, I don't believe that is the true story. That is a remark derived from ignorance. In Nigeria today, the SAN status is awarded to any lawyer who has earned it. It is awarded based on merit as being a Senior Advocate in Nigeria requires you to go through several difficult steps that you must complete to be granted that title. I've been a bar lawyer for more than 30 years, and I still haven't succeeded. The SAN level is free to get; if payment is required, I have the means to do so. You must merit it.