A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted a 55-year-old man, John Nwawuto Anoruo, for impersonating a legal practitioner and using a forged seal of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to conduct legal business.
Justice A.M. Lawal delivered the judgment on Tuesday after Anoruo pleaded guilty to a two-count charge bordering on impersonation and the fraudulent use of a counterfeit NBA seal.
The convict, 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 that exposed his activities.
According to the EFCC, the case originated after Anoruo submitted a petition dated September 22, 2025, to the anti-graft agency on behalf of clients against the management of Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited. Investigators later discovered that both the petition and a subsequent letter withdrawing the complaint, dated March 5, 2026, carried a forged NBA seal.
During investigations, Anoruo admitted obtaining the counterfeit seal from an undisclosed business centre in Lagos.
He also confessed that although he earned 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, making him ineligible to practise law in Nigeria.
Following the conclusion of investigations, the EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 arraigned him before the court on Tuesday, August 4, 2026.
One of the charges accused him of fraudulently using a counterfeit NBA seal bearing Supreme Court enrolment number SCN037400 with the intent of passing it off as genuine, contrary to the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.
The second charge alleged that he falsely represented himself to the EFCC as a qualified legal practitioner entitled to practise law in Nigeria and as the rightful owner of an NBA seal that actually belonged to another lawyer.
Anoruo pleaded guilty to both charges.
To establish the facts of the case, the prosecution counsel, Saadatu Mahmud Yabo, called EFCC investigating officer Umar Faruk Ahmad as its sole witness.
Ahmad told the court 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.
Investigations, the witness said, confirmed that the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal used by the defendant belonged to another legal practitioner.
He further testified that Anoruo admitted purchasing the forged seal from a Lagos business centre and acknowledged that he had never been called to the Nigerian Bar.
The witness also revealed that the defendant earned N7.5 million from the legal brief that triggered the investigation. Out of the proceeds, Anoruo reportedly paid N1.5 million to a qualified lawyer to handle aspects of the matter while retaining the rest.
According to the EFCC officer, Anoruo honoured the Commission’s invitation dressed in a legal practitioner’s attire. A subsequent search of his residence led to the recovery of the counterfeit NBA seal bearing another lawyer’s Supreme Court enrolment number.
The prosecution tendered several exhibits before the court, including the petition written by Olumide-Fusika, the defendant’s extra-judicial statement, correspondence between the EFCC, the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the recovered lawyer’s robe, the forged NBA seal and evidence of a N300,000 bank draft paid by the defendant into the EFCC’s recovery account.
Defence counsel, G.E. Demkemefa, raised no objection to the admissibility of the exhibits, which Justice Lawal admitted as evidence.
In a plea for leniency, the defence described Anoruo as a first-time offender who had cooperated with investigators and pleaded guilty without wasting the court’s time.
Counsel also appealed to the court to consider that the defendant is the breadwinner of a family comprising his wife and five children and urged that he be given the option of a fine instead of imprisonment.
Delivering judgment, Justice Lawal convicted Anoruo on both counts based on his guilty plea.
The court imposed a fine of N120,000 on the first count and N150,000 on the second count, bringing the total financial penalty to N270,000, payable to the Lagos State Judiciary.
Justice Lawal also ordered the forfeiture of the recovered legal practitioner’s attire and the forged Nigerian Bar Association seal to the Federal Government through the EFCC, bringing the prosecution to a close.
