Lagos Court Convicts Man for Using Forged NBA Seal

The Lagos State High Court in Ikeja convicted 55-year-old John Nwawuto Anoruo for impersonating a legal practitioner and fraudulently using a forged Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) seal. Justice Abdulfattah Molawale Lawal delivered the judgment on Wednesday after Anoruo pleaded guilty to a two-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC initiated an investigation after Anoruo submitted a petition on behalf of clients that bore a forged NBA seal, which included another lawyer’s Supreme Court enrolment number. Anoruo was arrested on April 20, 2026, and admitted to obtaining the counterfeit seal from a Lagos business centre.

He disclosed that he earned a law degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2018 but never attended the Nigerian Law School or was called to the Nigerian Bar. The prosecution, led by Saadatu Mahmud Yabo, presented EFCC investigating officer Umar Faruk Ahmad as the sole witness, who testified that Anoruo earned N7.5 million from the legal brief that triggered the investigation and paid N1.5 million to a qualified lawyer to handle the matter.

Anoruo was fined N270,000.