The Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted a 55-year-old man, John Nwawuto Anoruo, for posing as a legal practitioner and using a forged Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) seal to carry out legal work despite not being qualified to practise law in Nigeria.
Justice A.M. Lawal delivered the judgment on Tuesday after Anoruo pleaded guilty to two counts bordering on impersonation and the possession and use of a counterfeit NBA seal. The court imposed fines totalling N270,000 and ordered that the fake legal items recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to the EFCC, Anoruo, who runs a legal and educational consultancy in Ikorodu, Lagos State, was arrested on April 20, 2026, after investigations revealed that he had been presenting himself as a practising lawyer.
The anti-graft agency said the case began after Anoruo submitted a petition dated September 22, 2025, on behalf of some clients against the management of Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited.
Investigators later discovered that both the original petition and another letter withdrawing the complaint on March 5, 2026, carried a forged NBA seal.
The Commission said Anoruo admitted during interrogation that he obtained the fake NBA seal from a business centre in Lagos.
Although he claimed to have earned a law degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, through evening studies in 2018, he confessed that he never attended the Nigerian Law School and was never called to the Nigerian Bar.
Following investigations, the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC arraigned him before the court on August 4, 2026.
One of the charges accused him of fraudulently using a counterfeit NBA seal bearing Supreme Court Number SCN037400 as though it were genuine, contrary to the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.
He was also accused of falsely presenting himself to the EFCC on September 4, 2025, as a qualified legal practitioner and unlawfully using an NBA seal bearing Supreme Court Number SCN037400, which belonged to another lawyer.
Anoruo pleaded guilty when the charges were read.
The prosecution counsel, Saadatu Mahmud Yabo, subsequently called EFCC investigating officer Umar Faruk Ahmad, who narrated how the investigation unfolded.
Ahmad told the court that the EFCC received a petition on April 15, 2026, from Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, alleging that Anoruo had filed a petition against him and his law firm while falsely claiming to be a lawyer.
The witness said investigations established that the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal used by the defendant belonged to another legal practitioner.
He added that Anoruo admitted purchasing the counterfeit seal from a business centre in Lagos and also acknowledged that he had never been called to the Nigerian Bar.
According to the investigating officer, Anoruo earned N7.5 million from the legal brief that led to the investigation.
He told the court that the defendant later paid N1.5 million to a qualified lawyer to handle the case after securing the brief.
Ahmad further testified that Anoruo appeared before EFCC investigators dressed in a lawyer’s robe and other legal attire.
A search of his residence later led to the recovery of the counterfeit NBA seal bearing another lawyer’s Supreme Court enrolment number.
During the trial, the prosecution tendered several exhibits, including the petition submitted by Olumide-Fusika, Anoruo’s statement, official correspondence between the EFCC, the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the recovered legal robe, the fake NBA seal and evidence showing that the defendant paid N300,000 into the EFCC recovery account through a bank draft.
The investigating officer also identified the lawyer’s attire recovered from the defendant as the same outfit Anoruo wore when he honoured the Commission’s invitation.
The defence did not oppose the admissibility of the exhibits, and Justice Lawal admitted them as evidence.
In his plea for mercy, Anoruo urged the court to be lenient, stating that he paid N2.5 million to the person who introduced the legal brief to him and another N1.5 million to the lawyer who eventually handled the matter.
The prosecution asked the court to convict the defendant based on his guilty plea and requested that all items used in committing the offences be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Delivering judgment, Justice Lawal held that the defendant’s guilty plea clearly established his guilt.
“In view of the plea of the defendant, the defendant is hereby convicted on the two counts,”
Following the conviction, defence counsel G.E. Demkemefa appealed for mercy, describing Anoruo as a first-time offender who cooperated with investigators throughout the case.
The lawyer also urged the court to consider that the defendant is responsible for his wife and five children and requested that he be given the option of a fine instead of a prison sentence.
Justice Lawal subsequently fined Anoruo N120,000 on the first count and N150,000 on the second count, bringing the total fine to N270,000 payable to the Lagos State Judiciary.
The court also ordered that the recovered lawyer’s robe and the forged Nigerian Bar Association seal be forfeited to the Federal Government through the EFCC.
