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.
Justice A.M. Lawal delivered the judgment on Tuesday after Anoruo pleaded guilty to a two-count charge bordering on impersonation and the use of a counterfeit NBA seal.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a statement signed by its head Media & publicity Dele Olawale on Tuesday, said Anoruo, who runs a legal and educational consultancy in Ikorodu, Lagos, was arrested on April 20, 2026, following investigations into a petition he submitted to the anti-graft agency on behalf of clients against Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited.
According to the EFCC, investigations revealed that both the petition and a subsequent letter withdrawing the petition carried a forged NBA seal, which the defendant admitted obtaining from a business centre in Lagos.
The anti-graft agency further stated 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 not called to the Nigerian Bar.
One of the charges accused him of fraudulently using a counterfeit NBA seal bearing a Supreme Court enrolment number belonging to another lawyer, while the second alleged that he falsely presented himself to the EFCC as a legal practitioner authorised to practise law in Nigeria.
During the trial, EFCC investigating officer Umar Faruk Ahmad told the court that the commission received a petition from lawyer Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, alleging that Anoruo had falsely represented himself as a legal practitioner while filing a petition against him and his law firm.
Ahmad testified that investigations confirmed the Supreme Court enrolment number on the NBA seal belonged to another legal practitioner.
He also told the court that Anoruo admitted obtaining the counterfeit seal from a business centre and confessed that he had not been called to the Bar.
The witness further disclosed that the defendant earned N7.5 million from the legal brief but paid N1.5 million to a qualified lawyer to handle the matter on his behalf.
According to Ahmad, Anoruo arrived at the EFCC office wearing a legal practitioner’s attire when he honoured the commission’s invitation, while a subsequent search of his residence led to the recovery of the counterfeit NBA seal.
The prosecution tendered several exhibits, including the petition, the defendant’s statement, correspondence with the Body of Benchers and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the recovered lawyer’s attire, the forged NBA seal and evidence of a N300,000 bank draft paid into the EFCC’s recovery account. The defence did not oppose their admission.
In his allocutus, Anoruo pleaded for leniency, telling the court he had paid N2.5 million to the person who introduced the legal brief to him and N1.5 million to the lawyer who handled the case.
Delivering judgment, Justice Lawal said, “In view of the plea of the defendant, the defendant is hereby convicted on the two counts.”
The defence urged the court to impose a fine instead of a prison sentence, describing Anoruo as a first-time offender and the breadwinner of a family comprising his wife and five children.
The court subsequently fined the defendant 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.
Justice Lawal also ordered the forfeiture of the legal practitioner’s attire and the forged NBA seal recovered from the defendant to the Federal Government through the EFCC.