By Sakinat Bamidele, Lagos
A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted and fined a 55-year-old man, John Nwawuto Anoruo, a total of N270,000 for impersonating a legal practitioner and using a forged Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) seal.
Justice A.M. Lawal delivered the judgment after Anoruo pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of impersonation and possession of a counterfeit NBA seal. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the convict, who operated a legal and educational consultancy in Ikorodu, falsely presented himself as a lawyer despite never being called to the Nigerian Bar.
The case was uncovered after Anoruo submitted a petition to the EFCC on behalf of clients against Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited. Investigations revealed that the petition and a subsequent withdrawal letter carried a fake NBA seal. The defendant admitted obtaining the forged seal from a business centre in Lagos and confessed that although he graduated with a law degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2018, he never attended the Nigerian Law School.
An EFCC investigator, Umar Faruk Ahmad, told the court that the Supreme Court enrolment number on the forged seal belonged to another lawyer. He also disclosed that Anoruo earned about N7.5 million from the legal brief, paying N1.5 million to a qualified lawyer to handle the matter. Investigators further recovered the forged NBA seal and a lawyer’s robe from the defendant’s residence after he appeared at the EFCC office dressed as a legal practitioner.
In his ruling, Justice Lawal fined the defendant N120,000 on the first count and N150,000 on the second count, bringing the total to N270,000. The court also ordered the forfeiture of the fake NBA seal and the lawyer’s robe to the Federal Government through the EFCC.