A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted and sentenced a fake lawyer, John Nwawuto Anoruo, for impersonation and possession of a forged Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) seal after he pleaded guilty to the offences.
Justice A.M. Lawal delivered the judgment on Tuesday, following the prosecution of the 55-year-old by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Anoruo, who operated a legal and educational consultancy in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, was arrested by EFCC operatives on April 20, 2026, after investigations uncovered that he had been masquerading as a legal practitioner.
The investigation began after Anoruo submitted a petition dated September 22, 2025, to the EFCC on behalf of clients against the management of Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited. A subsequent withdrawal letter dated March 5, 2026, also submitted by him, was found to bear a forged NBA seal.
According to the EFCC, the defendant admitted obtaining the counterfeit seal from an undisclosed business centre in Lagos.
Investigators further established that although Anoruo claimed to have obtained 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.
He was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on the fraudulent use of a counterfeit NBA seal and falsely presenting himself as a qualified legal practitioner.
One of the charges accused him of fraudulently using a forged NBA seal bearing Supreme Court enrolment number SCN037400 with the intent to pass it off as genuine, while the second charge alleged that he falsely represented himself to the EFCC as a legal practitioner entitled to practise law in Nigeria using another lawyer’s enrolment number.
Anoruo pleaded guilty to both counts.
Following the guilty plea, the prosecution, led by Saadatu Mahmud Yabo, called EFCC investigating officer Umar Faruk Ahmad to present the facts of the case.
Ahmad told the court that the Commission received a petition from legal practitioner Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, alleging that Anoruo had falsely presented himself as a lawyer while filing petitions against him and his law firm.
He testified that investigations confirmed the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal belonged to another legal practitioner and that the defendant admitted procuring the counterfeit seal despite not being qualified to practise law.
The investigating officer further disclosed that Anoruo 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 matter on his behalf.
He added that the defendant appeared before the EFCC dressed in a legal practitioner’s robe and that a subsequent search of his residence led to the recovery of the forged NBA seal bearing another lawyer’s Supreme Court enrolment number.
The prosecution tendered several exhibits before the court, including the petition, the defendant’s confessional statement, correspondence between the EFCC, the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the recovered lawyer’s attire, the forged NBA seal and evidence of a ₦300,000 bank draft paid into the EFCC recovery account.
Defence counsel, G.E. Demkemefa, raised no objection to the admissibility of the exhibits, which were admitted by the court.
In his plea for leniency, the defence counsel urged the court to temper justice with mercy, describing Anoruo as a first-time offender and the sole breadwinner of a family comprising his wife and five children.
He also appealed for the imposition of a fine instead of a custodial sentence.
Delivering judgment, Justice Lawal convicted the defendant on both counts and sentenced him to 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 further ordered the forfeiture of the legal practitioner’s attire and the forged Nigerian Bar Association seal recovered from the defendant to the Federal Government through the EFCC.
