By our Reporter
A 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 using a forged Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) seal.
Justice A.M. Lawal delivered the judgment on Tuesday after Anoruo pleaded guilty to a two-count charge bordering on impersonation and the fraudulent use of a counterfeit NBA seal.
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 April 20, 2026, following investigations into a petition he submitted to the anti-graft agency on behalf of his clients against Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited.
Investigations revealed that the petition dated September 22, 2025, and a subsequent letter of withdrawal dated March 5, 2026, bore a forged NBA seal, which the defendant admitted obtaining from an undisclosed business centre in Lagos.
According to the EFCC, Anoruo claimed he earned a law degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2018 through evening classes but admitted that he never attended the Nigerian Law School and was never called to the Nigerian Bar.
He was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC on charges of using a counterfeit NBA seal and falsely presenting himself to the Commission as a legal practitioner qualified to practise law in Nigeria.
One of the charges accused him of fraudulently using a counterfeit NBA seal bearing Supreme Court Number SCN037400 with the intent to pass it off as genuine, while the second alleged that he falsely represented himself as the lawful owner of the NBA seal belonging to another lawyer.
Following his guilty plea, EFCC prosecutor Saadatu Mahmud Yabo called an investigating officer, Umar Faruk Ahmad, who told the court that the Commission received a petition from legal practitioner Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika alleging that Anoruo had falsely held himself out as a lawyer.
The witness said investigations confirmed that the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal used by the defendant belonged to another legal practitioner. He added that Anoruo admitted obtaining the counterfeit seal from a business centre and acknowledged that he was not a qualified lawyer.
Ahmad further testified that the defendant earned N7.5 million from the legal brief, of which he paid N1.5 million to a qualified legal practitioner to handle the matter. He also told the court that Anoruo appeared before the EFCC wearing a lawyer’s attire and that a subsequent search of his residence led to the recovery of the counterfeit NBA seal.
The prosecution tendered several exhibits, including the petition, the defendant’s extra-judicial statement, correspondence between the EFCC, the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the legal practitioner’s attire, the forged NBA seal and evidence of a N300,000 bank draft paid into the EFCC’s recovery account. The defence did not object to the admissibility of the exhibits.
In his plea for leniency, defence counsel G.E. Demkemefa described Anoruo as a first-time offender and the breadwinner of his family, urging the court to impose a fine instead of a custodial sentence.
Justice Lawal convicted the defendant on both counts and sentenced him to a fine of N120,000 on the first count and N150,000 on the second, bringing the total fine to N270,000, payable to the Lagos State Judiciary.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the legal practitioner’s attire and the forged NBA seal recovered from the defendant to the Federal Government through the EFCC.
