The Owerri branch of the Nigerian Bar Association has frowned on the way people impersonate lawyers in the state.
According Punch, the Chairman of the Anti-Impersonation Committee of the NBA in the branch, Ihediohanma Akponye, who spoke when members visited the state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, said fake lawyers were causing huge economic loss to the state.
The lawyer said the NBA was unhappy at the spate of fraud-related cases coming up in the state.
Akponye stated, “We have observed that Imo State is now riddled with fraud caused by persons that impersonate lawyers. This is very disturbing to the bar, and as a committee, we are committed to ensuring that impersonators face the full wrath of the law.
“The Anti-Impersonation Committee of the NBA is determined to identify and flush out fake lawyers and unscrupulous elements, who illegally engage and carry on some businesses that are the exclusive preserve of members of the legal profession, thereby hurting the trust of the public and the economy of the state.”
He commended the police in the state for arresting an alleged fake lawyer recently, adding that more persons, who impersonate practitioners of the profession should be apprehended and prosecuted.
Akponye said, “It’s important that we say this that only those called to the Nigerian bar are legally qualified to practice as lawyers in Nigeria. Even if you are a graduate, but as long as you are not called to bar, you can’t practice as a lawyer. That your spouse, father or mother is a lawyer does not also qualify you as a lawyer or to parade the NBA stickers.”
On the chairman’s entourage to the CP were Ifeoma Ihesie, Peter Oduba, Eke Onyeforo, T. O. B. Okey, Blaise Iwunze, E. C. Onyema, and Williams Okere.
