AGF AbdulRazaq SAN, father of the Kwara State Governor-elect AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, was on Friday night honored with the First Distinguished Service Awards as a past chairman of the influential Body of Benchers (BOB).

The award was received on behalf of the legal icon by the Kwara Governor-Elect who stood in for the family of the nonagenarian.

The award was conferred on all the former chairmen of the BOB, the exclusive club of legal luminaries responsible for the formal call to the Bar of persons seeking to become legal practitioners in Nigeria.

AGF AbdulRazaq, who was the first qualified lawyer from Nigeria's northern region and a historic figure in the country's constitutional development, was chairman of the body between 1982 and 1983.

He is a Life Bencher.

The awards were presented to the various honorees by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President Bukola Saraki; and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

Incidentally, AGF's own award was presented by Senator Bukola Saraki whose political dynasty was roundly defeated in the recently conducted general elections by the new Governor elect of Kwara, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who ran under the APC.

The BOB was established under the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA), now CAP L11, LFN 2004.

The Body comprises the Chief Justice of Nigeria and all Justices of the Supreme Court, the President of the Court of Appeal, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Presiding Justices of the Court of Appeal Divisions, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, the Chief Judges of the States of the Federation, the Attorneys-General of the States of the Federation, the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), thirty legal practitioners nominated by the NBA, and such number of persons not exceeding ten, who appear to the Body of Benchers to be eminent members of the legal profession in Nigeria of not less than 15 years post-call standing.