Eight years after a celebrated case involving one Sampson Bamgbose, who for nineteen (19) years successfully paraded himself and operated as a lawyer when he is not, the Ikorodu chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association, which spearheaded Bamigbose’s arrest, interrogation and prosecution, is again providing assistance to bring justice to an alleged fake lawyer, Mr. Olumide Oyekola Yunusa, accused of parading as a lawyer and defrauding innocent citizens of huge sums of money for fake services rendered.
Mr. Yunusa was arraigned at Ikorodu magistrate Court 4 on Thursday, December 15, 2016 in a case titled Commissioner of Police versus Olumide Oyekola Yunusa.
The suspected fake lawyer is being charged of parading as a lawyer and duping the family of Francis Kwusoju and one Mrs. Elekushi Christiana.
According to the prosecutors, Mr. Yunusa collected ninety thousand naira (N90,000) from the family of Francis Kwusoju to perfect a bail while Mrs. Elekushi Christiana accused the suspected fake lawyer of collecting one hundred and fifty thousand naira (N150,000) promising to get an apartment for her. She also alleged that the ‘lawyer’ prepared fake documents for another transaction unnamed.
The accused ‘lawyer’ was said to have been seen with wig and gown, which are official symbolic garments of a genuine legal practitioner. Bringing up the charges in Court on that Thursday, December 15, 2016 Sgt. Adedokun Olalekan from Ipakodo divisional police gave full details to the magistrate that on November 20, 2016, when the case of the accused was brought to him by one Inspector Ayo, the case was consequently filed for proper investigation.
Sgt Olalekan also referred to Mrs. Busola Osifo, who reported a case of obtaining by trick (OBT) against the accused.
After Yunusa was interrogated by the magistrate as well as Sgt. Olalekan (the prosecutor), the accused was set on trial and the judge adjourned the case to December 22, 2016 for continuation of trial.
No lawyer appeared for the accused while Barrister Levi Adikwaone and AB Ladega, Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively of NBA, Ikorodu branch, stood in for the complainants.
Outside the court premises, Oriwu Sun reporters, Oyedokun Sodiq wale and Abdulaziz Afolabi, accosted the two officials of the Nigerian Bar Association for their comments.
Barrister Levi Adikwaone, the incumbent NBA Chairman Ikorodu, said the activities of fake lawyers have been threatening this community, just like everyone knows it as a threat to this country at large. “As a body, one of our cardinal points is to root out the activities of fake Lawyers in our community, while the national body takes care of general. We are doing it basically within Ikorodu community. This case involving Yinusa, we did not directly apprehend him but he was suspected to have been involved in name dropping; he was using the name of one of the magistrates to extort money from unsuspecting members of the public.”
“So, the information got to the concerned Magistrate and he was arrested to be investigated. Now, it was actually in the cause of the investigation that we have reason to believe that he was holding himself out as a lawyer when in fact, in truth and in law, he is not one. So, we became interested since that is one of our functions as a body, and since then, we’ve been giving all necessary support to the prosecutor, who is a police officer, to ensure the matter is handled efficiently, effectively and to a logical conclusion. All we want is to ensure justice; we are not a saying he is guilty but from the outcome of the investigation, it is a good case for court to determine. And since the matter is in court, we will just provide the court with necessary and relevant logistics to ensure that the truth prevails. This is a charlatan; if he is an impostor, if he is a fake Lawyer as we believe he is, the cause of justice must be allowed to take its cause,” he said.
When asked what roles Lagosians should play to identify and nab fake lawyers in our midst, the two officials said. Ikorodu, as a whole, is a community where the activities of fake Lawyers is a monster that ought to be nipped in the bud; the reason is that it creates a chain to get a fake lawyer. A fake lawyer is involved in so many atrocities which gives the lawyers in the community bad name; the fake lawyers are very quick to extort members of the community because they don’t have moral decorum. They are not trained; lawyer are trained and by reason of such training, there are things morally and legally binding on lawyers, but if you are not trained as a lawyer, you won’t be able to sift the weed from the shaff. A non-lawyer can do all manner of things without caring whose horse is gourd.
“Our call in Ikorodu today is that all hands must be on the deck to ensure that any suspected person claiming to be a lawyer must be reported.”
“NBA has made it simple; if you claim to be a lawyer, any document written by you must be stamped and sealed. If a document is purportedly issued by a lawyer and it does not have a stamp/seal on it or NBA designated seal/stamp, then there is a question. Whoever the client is, you should ask the lawyer dealing with you if he is real or not when he/she is not providing a stamp and seal.”
“Every lawyer, when you pay your practicing fees and branch due, you are given a license to practice and the license qualifies you to practice for a year. After a year, you renew it. These are ways people can easily identify who is a lawyers or who is not, Lawyers’ document must have stamp and seal on it; a lawyer must have his/her license with him/her all the time issued by (NBA), and in the event of doubt the public is implored to contact the leadership of (NBA) Ikorodu because we have the list of all our lawyers, and even if a lawyer is a resident in Ikorodu and has not registered with us, once we have his name, it is very easy to get through him/her at the Supreme court that indeed, he/she is a lawyer.
“It will be recalled that in 2008 the explosive case of Bamgbose, who had worked in Lagos and Ikorodu as a purported high profile lawyer and held different positions in Ikorodu NBA until he was discovered, stirred up great concern among the citizenry.”
“The fake Bamgbose lawyer reportedly produced over seventeen (17) certificates, most of which were forged, including a law degree from Manchester University, U.K and call to Nigeria Bar certificate.
He was consequently charged to court but we learnt from the present NBA Chairman, Mr. Adikwole, that Bamgbose’s case has not been concluded because the man is on the run.”