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, August 4, 2026, after Anoruo pleaded guilty to a two-count charge bordering on impersonation and the fraudulent use of a counterfeit NBA seal.
Anoruo, who operated 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 while posing as a qualified lawyer.
The EFCC said the investigation began after Anoruo filed a petition dated September 22, 2025, on behalf of his clients against the management of Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited.
According to the Commission, both the petition and a subsequent letter withdrawing the complaint carried a forged NBA seal, which the defendant later admitted obtaining from an undisclosed business centre in Lagos.
Investigators further discovered that although Anoruo claimed to have obtained a law degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2018 through evening classes, he never attended the Nigerian Law School and was never called to the Nigerian Bar.
One of the charges stated that Anoruo fraudulently used a counterfeit Nigerian Bar Association seal bearing Supreme Court enrolment number SCN037400 “with intent that same be acted upon as genuine,” contrary to the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
The second charge accused him of falsely presenting himself to the EFCC as a legal practitioner duly qualified to practise law in Nigeria while using an NBA seal that belonged to another lawyer.
Following his guilty plea, EFCC prosecution counsel, Saadatu Mahmud Yabo, called investigating officer Umar Faruk Ahmad, who reviewed the facts of the case before the court.
Ahmad testified that the Commission received a petition on April 15, 2026, from legal practitioner Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, alleging that Anoruo had falsely presented himself as a lawyer while filing legal documents against him and his law firm.
According to the witness, investigations confirmed that the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal used by the defendant belonged to another legal practitioner.
He told the court that Anoruo admitted purchasing the counterfeit seal from a business centre in Lagos and confessed that he had not been called to the Bar.
The witness also disclosed that the defendant earned ₦7.5 million from the legal brief, out of which he paid ₦1.5 million to a qualified lawyer to handle the matter on his behalf.
Ahmad further revealed that Anoruo appeared at the EFCC office wearing a legal practitioner’s robe and that a subsequent search of his residence led to the recovery of the counterfeit NBA seal bearing another lawyer’s enrolment number.
The prosecution tendered several exhibits, including the petition, the defendant’s extra-judicial statement, correspondence with the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the recovered legal attire, the forged NBA seal, and evidence of a ₦300,000 bank draft paid into the EFCC recovery account.
The defence did not object to the admissibility of the exhibits.
During his allocutus, Anoruo appealed for leniency, informing the court that he had paid ₦2.5 million to the person who introduced the legal brief and ₦1.5 million to the lawyer he hired to conduct the case.
His counsel, G.E. Demkemefa, urged the court to temper justice with mercy, describing the defendant as a first-time offender, the family’s breadwinner, and someone who had not wasted the time of the court.
Delivering judgment, Justice Lawal held: “In view of the plea of the defendant, the defendant is hereby convicted on the two counts.”
The court subsequently fined Anoruo ₦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.
Justice Lawal also ordered the forfeiture of the legal practitioner’s robe and the forged NBA seal recovered from the defendant to the Federal Government through the EFCC.
