WorldStage— Justice A.M. Lawal of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, has convicted and sentenced a fake lawyer, John Nwawuto Anoruo for impersonation and possession of 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 EFCC on Monday, April 20, 2026.
His case began after he 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.
In 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.
Upon the conclusion of the investigation, Anoruo was arraigned 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.
One of the counts reads: “That you, JOHN NWAWUTO ANORUO, sometime between 2025 and 2026, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently used a counterfeited seal titled ‘Nigerian Bar Association’ with Supreme Court Number SCN037400, with intent that same be acted upon as genuine and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 366(1) and punishable under Section 365(1)(x) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.”
The second count stated that the defendant, on September 4, 2025, falsely represented himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as a legal practitioner duly certified to practice law in Nigeria and as the holder of a Nigerian Bar Association seal bearing Supreme Court Number SCN037400, which lawfully belonged to another legal practitioner, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 382 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
He pleaded “guilty” to the charges preferred against 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.
In his testimony, Ahmad told the court that the Commission, on April 15, 2026, received a petition dated April 14, 2026, from a legal practitioner, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika.
According to the witness, the petitioner alleged that Anoruo had filed a petition against him and his law firm while falsely presenting himself as a legal practitioner.
Ahmad stated that investigations revealed that the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal used by the defendant belonged to another legal practitioner.
He further informed the court that the defendant 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 also disclosed that the defendant earned N7,500,000.00 (Seven Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) from the legal brief in question, out of which he paid N1,500,000.00 (One Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) to a qualified legal practitioner to handle the matter on his behalf.
Ahmad further testified that when the defendant honoured the EFCC’s invitation, he came to the Commission’s office with a legal practitioner’s attire, adding that 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 in evidence the petition written by Olumide-Fusika; the defendant’s extra-judicial statement made under caution; investigation letters sent by the EFCC to the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, together with their responses; the legal practitioner’s attire recovered from the defendant; the counterfeit NBA seal; and evidence of a N300,000.00 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira) bank draft paid by the defendant into the EFCC’s recovery account.
The witness also identified the legal practitioner’s attire produced before the court as the same one the defendant brought to the EFCC’s office during interrogation.
The defence counsel, G.E. Demkemefa, 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, the defendant informed the court that he paid N2,500,000.00 (Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) to the individual who introduced the legal brief to him and N1,500,000.00 (One Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) to the lawyer he engaged to handle the matter.
Yabo thereafter urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant in accordance with his guilty plea.
She also prayed the court to order the forfeiture of all the exhibits to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Lawal held that “In view of the plea of the defendant, the defendant is hereby convicted on the two counts.”
The defence counsel, thereafter, 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.
He added that the defendant “is the breadwinner of his family, comprising his wife and five children,” and urged the court to impose the option of a fine rather than a custodial sentence.
Justice Lawal subsequently sentenced the defendant to a fine of N120,000.00 (One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira) on count one and N150,000.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) on count two, bringing the total fine to N270,000.00 (Two Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira), 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.
