Ola Williams –
The Supreme Court has imposed a personal fine of N50 million on a Nigerian lawyer, S.M. Danyaro, and suspended his right of audience in courts nationwide, after branding an application he filed before the apex court as one of the most reckless ever brought before it.
Justice Chioma Egondu Nwosu-Iheme delivered the ruling on June 22, 2026, throwing out Danyaro’s application in its entirety and aligning fully with the lead ruling by Justice Jamilu Yammama Tukur. The court held that the application was filed solely to relitigate grievances from an appeal it had already decided on June 4, 2025.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme did not mince words in her assessment of counsel’s conduct. “I agree entirely with the reasoning and abide the conclusion in the lead Ruling that this Application is one of the most thoughtless and irresponsible Applications ever brought before this Court,” she said, adding that Danyaro had been “oblivious of the consequences of his action.”
The court found Danyaro’s conduct amounted to professional misconduct, with the justice warning it would shadow his legal career. She went further, accusing him of exposing his own ignorance of the law: “He is not worthy to be called a Legal Practitioner.”
In dismissing the application, the court reaffirmed that its June 4, 2025 judgment in Appeal No. SC.266/2017 remains “subsisting, final and binding on all parties.” It then handed down the sanctions — ordering Danyaro to personally pay N50 million to the respondents within 90 days, and barring him from appearing in any Nigerian court until he files a certificate of compliance under Order 12 Rules 4(d), 6, and 7 of the Supreme Court Rules.
The ruling was signed and certified as a true copy by the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
