66-year-old fake lawyer nabbed in Lagos

A sixty-six-year-old  fake lawyer, Jones (other names withheld), has said that he could not be referred to as a fake lawyer as he had appeared in courts for more than 10 different cases, including one or two at the Court of Appeal.

The suspect was  re-arrested by the police in Lagos  State after he allegedly refused to turn a new leaf.

The suspect however insisted that he was not a fake lawyer having practised for more than three years, since he started in  2013.

He also said that he was qualified to be a real lawyer, since he was paying his membership dues to the Lagos State branch of the Nigeria Bar Association.

The old man also said that he got a lawyer’ s robes from some officials of the Federal High Court in Lagos, when he could not afford it.

The Lagos State police commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspect before newsmen on Thursday afternoon described him as an “impersonator.”

Jones told Metro that “I started as a litigation officer since 1994. I was filming litigation for Yakubu and Sambo and Associate.”

He added that “I was not using lawyer’s robes. I could not afford it. It was very  expensive. Some officials of Federal High Court gave them to me.”

Kayode also claimed that “in all the cases, I was holding personal brief. The cases were my cases. I was representing myself.”

The fake lawyer, who claimed to reside at the popular Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos also insisted that he had committed no wrong.

“I believe I have not done anything wrong. The Lagos State criminal law states that   that I am innocent since I have been doing it for more than three years,” the suspect said.

The suspect also said that though he had no formal training as a lawyer, he took some courses with the Chartered Institute of Management to the intermediary level and was therefore qualified to be a lawyer .