A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted and sentenced a 55-year-old fake lawyer, John Nwawuto Anoruo, for impersonating a legal practitioner and unlawfully possessing a forged seal of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), ABN TV report.
Justice A.M. Lawal delivered the judgment on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, after Anoruo pleaded guilty to a two-count charge filed by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to the EFCC, Anoruo, who operated a legal and educational consultancy in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, was arrested on April 20, 2026, following investigations that exposed his use of a counterfeit NBA seal while presenting himself as a qualified legal practitioner.
The Commission said the case originated from a petition Anoruo submitted to the EFCC on behalf of clients against the management of Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited. Investigators later discovered that the petition, as well as a subsequent withdrawal letter, carried a forged NBA seal.
During investigations, Anoruo admitted obtaining the counterfeit NBA seal from an undisclosed business centre in Lagos. He also confessed that although he earned a law degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2018 through evening studies, he never attended the Nigerian Law School and was never called to the Nigerian Bar.
One of the charges accused him of fraudulently using a counterfeit NBA seal bearing Supreme Court Number SCN037400 with the intention of passing it off as genuine. Another charge alleged that he falsely represented himself to the EFCC as a qualified legal practitioner using an NBA seal that belonged to another lawyer.
Prosecution counsel, Saadatu Mahmud Yabo, presented EFCC investigating officer Umar Faruk Ahmad, who told the court that the Commission received a petition from legal practitioner Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, alleging that Anoruo falsely claimed to be a lawyer while filing petitions.
The witness testified that investigations confirmed the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal belonged to another legal practitioner. He further disclosed that Anoruo admitted purchasing the forged seal and acknowledged that he was not a member of the Nigerian Bar.
According to the EFCC, the defendant earned ₦7.5 million from the legal brief in question, out of which he paid ₦1.5 million to a qualified lawyer to handle the case on his behalf. Investigators also recovered a counterfeit NBA seal and legal practitioner’s attire after searching his residence.
The prosecution tendered several exhibits before the court, including the petition against Olumide-Fusika, the defendant’s extra-judicial statement, correspondence between the EFCC, the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the recovered legal attire, the forged NBA seal and evidence of a ₦300,000 bank draft paid into the EFCC recovery account. The defence did not object to their admissibility.
In his plea for leniency, defence counsel G.E. Demkemefa described Anoruo as a first-time offender and the sole breadwinner of his family, urging the court to impose a fine instead of a custodial sentence.
Delivering judgment, Justice Lawal convicted the defendant on both counts and imposed a fine of ₦120,000 on the first count and ₦150,000 on the second count, bringing the total fine to ₦270,000, payable to the Lagos State Judiciary.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the recovered legal practitioner’s attire and the forged NBA seal to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the EFCC.
