A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted and fined a 55-year-old man, John Nwawuto Anoruo, for impersonating a legal practitioner and using a forged Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) seal bearing another lawyer’s Supreme Court enrolment number.
Justice A.M. Lawal sentenced Anoruo to a total fine of N270,000 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of impersonation and the use of a counterfeit NBA seal.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the forged seal and legal practitioner’s attire recovered from him to the Federal Government through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to an EFCC statement issued by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, Anoruo operated a legal and educational consultancy in Ikorodu, Lagos State, despite not having attended the Nigerian Law School or been called to the Nigerian Bar.
The commission said investigations revealed that Anoruo used the counterfeit NBA seal on a petition submitted to the EFCC on behalf of his clients against the management of Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited.
The petition, dated September 22, 2025, and a subsequent letter withdrawing it, dated March 5, 2026, both carried the forged seal.
Anoruo reportedly admitted obtaining the seal from an undisclosed business centre in Lagos.
The EFCC said the case came to its attention after receiving a petition dated April 14, 2026, from a legal practitioner, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, who accused Anoruo of filing a petition against him and his law firm while falsely presenting himself as a lawyer.
During the investigation, the commission discovered that the Supreme Court enrolment number, SCN037400, printed on the seal belonged to another legal practitioner.
The 55-year-old reportedly told investigators that he obtained a law degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2018 through evening classes but never attended the Nigerian Law School.
He was arrested by EFCC operatives on April 20, 2026, and subsequently arraigned by the commission’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 on two counts under the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
One of the charges accused him of fraudulently using a counterfeit seal bearing the inscription “Nigerian Bar Association” with the intention that it be accepted as genuine.
The second count accused him of falsely representing himself to the EFCC as a duly certified legal practitioner and using an NBA seal bearing another lawyer’s enrolment number.
Anoruo pleaded guilty to both charges.
During the proceedings, EFCC investigating officer Umar Faruk Ahmad told the court that the defendant earned N7.5 million from the legal brief in question.
Of that amount, Anoruo reportedly paid N1.5 million to a qualified lawyer to handle the matter on his behalf.
The investigating officer also told the court that Anoruo appeared at the EFCC office wearing legal practitioner’s attire when he honoured the commission’s invitation.
A subsequent search of his residence led to the recovery of the counterfeit NBA seal, while the attire he wore during interrogation was also presented as evidence.
The prosecution tendered several exhibits, including the petition by Olumide-Fusika, Anoruo’s extra-judicial statement, correspondence between the EFCC and the Body of Benchers and Supreme Court of Nigeria, the recovered attire, the forged seal and evidence of a N300,000 bank draft paid by the defendant into the commission’s recovery account.
Defence counsel, G.E. Demkemefa, did not object to the admissibility of the exhibits, which Justice Lawal admitted and marked as Exhibits 1 to 9.
During his plea for leniency, Anoruo told the court that he paid N2.5 million to the individual who introduced the legal brief to him and N1.5 million to the lawyer he engaged to handle the case.
The prosecution counsel, Saadatu Mahmud Yabo, urged the court to convict and sentence him in accordance with his guilty plea. She also sought an order forfeiting the exhibits to the Federal Government.
Delivering judgment, Justice Lawal said the defendant was convicted on both counts in view of his guilty plea.
Demkemefa subsequently urged the court to temper justice with mercy, describing Anoruo as a first-time offender who had not wasted the time of the EFCC or the court.
The defence counsel also said the defendant was the breadwinner of his family, comprising his wife and five children, and asked the court to impose a fine instead of a custodial sentence.
Justice Lawal imposed a fine of N120,000 on the first count and N150,000 on the second, bringing the total to N270,000, payable to the Lagos State Judiciary.
The judge further ordered that the forged NBA seal and the legal practitioner’s attire recovered from Anoruo be forfeited to the Federal Government through the EFCC.
