Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Justice A.M. Lawal of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted and sentenced a 55-year-old man, John Nwawuto Anoruo, for impersonating a legal practitioner and possessing a forged seal of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Anoruo, who operates a legal and educational consultancy in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, was arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, April 20, 2026, following investigations that exposed his illegal practice of law.
The case began when Anoruo submitted a petition dated September 22, 2025, to the EFCC on behalf of his clients against the management of Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited. Investigations, however, revealed that both the petition and a subsequent Letter of Withdrawal dated March 5, 2026, bore a forged NBA seal, which Anoruo admittedly obtained from an undisclosed business centre in Lagos. During the course of investigations, the 55-year-old claimed that although he obtained a law degree in 2018 from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, through evening classes, he did not attend the Nigerian Law School and was therefore not called to the Bar.
Upon the conclusion of the investigation, Anoruo was arraigned on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC on a two-count charge bordering on the use of a counterfeit NBA seal and impersonation. He pleaded guilty to the charges when they were read to him. Following his plea, prosecution counsel, Saadatu Mahmud Yabo, called Umar Faruk Ahmad, an investigating officer with the EFCC, to review the facts of the case. The witness testified that the Commission received a petition dated April 14, 2026, from a legal practitioner, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, alleging that Anoruo had filed a petition against him and his law firm while falsely presenting himself as a legal practitioner. The witness stated that investigations revealed that the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal used by the defendant belonged to another legal practitioner. Anoruo admitted obtaining the counterfeit NBA seal from a business centre in Lagos and confirmed that he was not called to the Nigerian Bar.
The witness further disclosed that the defendant earned N7,500,000 from the legal brief in question, out of which he paid N1,500,000 to a qualified legal practitioner to handle the matter on his behalf. The court heard that when Anoruo honoured the EFCC's invitation, he came to the Commission's office with a legal practitioner's attire. A subsequent search of his residence led to the recovery of the counterfeit NBA seal bearing the Supreme Court enrolment number of another lawyer. Through the investigating officer, the prosecution tendered several exhibits, including the petition written by Olumide-Fusika, the defendant's extra-judicial statement, investigation letters sent to the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria along with their responses, the legal practitioner's attire recovered from the defendant, the counterfeit NBA seal, and evidence of a N300,000 bank draft paid by the defendant into the EFCC's recovery account.
The defence counsel raised no objection to the admissibility of the exhibits, following which Justice Lawal admitted and marked them as Exhibits 1 to 9. During his allocutus, Anoruo informed the court that he paid N2,500,000 to the individual who introduced the legal brief to him and N1,500,000 to the lawyer he engaged to handle the matter. The defence counsel pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, describing the defendant as a first-time offender who did not waste the time of either the EFCC or the court, and urged the court to impose the option of a fine rather than a custodial sentence.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Lawal convicted Anoruo on the two counts. The court subsequently sentenced the defendant to a fine of N120,000 on count one and N150,000 on count two, bringing the total fine to N270,000, payable to the Lagos State Judiciary. The court also ordered that the legal practitioner's attire and the forged NBA seal recovered from the defendant be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the EFCC. The case serves as a stern warning to individuals who impersonate legal practitioners and use forged documents to deceive the public and the courts, reaffirming the EFCC's commitment to prosecuting economic and financial crimes in all their forms.
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