Court Sentences Man To 6 Yrs In Prison For Impersonating As A Lawyer, Soldier

Magistrate A. A. Adesanya of the Ojo Magistrate court today, the 2nd day of August 2019 convicted one Mr. Ebong Kubiatabasi Emmanuel (A.K.A Barrister Ntong) to six years imprisonment without option of fine on offenses boarding on impersonation as a Lawyer and a soldier.

The accused was arraigned on a three count charge in charge No.OJ/278/2017 for presenting himself to be a lawyer at Onireke Police Station on the 23rd day of March 2017 but could not give satisfactory proof of his qualification as a legal practitioner.

Delivering the judgment, the Honourable court found the accused guilty of the three counts and sentenced him to one year imprisonment each for the first two counts and a four year sentence for the third count of impersonation as a lawyer and stated that the sentences should run concurrently without option of fine commencing from the date of arraignment.

Independent investigation revealed that the accused who was granted bail on the day of arraignment has remained in custody for the entire period of the trial for his inability to meet his bail conditions.

Reacting to the judgement, the Chairman of the Anti-corruption and Fake Lawyers’ Committee of the Badagry branch of NBA, Robinson Alaekwe, Esq who appeared on behalf of the Association was full of praise for the erudite judgment as was delivered by the court though it falls short of the seven years maximum sentence as he advocated for in the court.

In his own reaction, the Chairman of the branch, ChigboOkafor Esq who was present at the court commended the tenacity of the Police Prosecutor and the Court for following the case to its logical conclusion while reiterating the determination of the branch to weed the judicial division of fake and unqualified lawyers.