Fake lawyer apprehended in Lagos

30 year old Daniel Ikhidenor Ikhuoria (pictured
above) from Ekpoma Edo State, who has been
practicing law illegally since 2011 has been
apprehended by the police attached to the
Igbosere High Court Lagos Island, PM News
reports

The suspected fake lawyer was arrested when he
came in as a lawyer for a court hearing. His
moves were suspected by an orderly attached to
the Appeal Court, DCR Office, who got him
arrested.

Upon his arrest, he was interrogated and is
alleged to have confessed to the fact that he had
never trained as a lawyer but didn't know it was
an offense to pose as a lawyer and represent
clients in court without training or authority.
Continue...

According to PM News, following his arrest, the
state branch chairman of Nigerian Bar
Association, NBA, Mr. Alex Morka, was contacted
about the development and he instructed the
police orderly to take the suspect to the nearest
police station.

In his alleged confessional statement to the
police, the suspect allegedly said: “I have been
practicing as a lawyer since 2011 and I have
represented clients at the magistrate, high court
and Federal high courts without any problem. But
I have never attended law school or any
institution to read law in my life but I was called
to the bar through a source at a high court in
2011. I bought the gown and wig in the open
market and wore it and started practicing as a
lawyer. I did not know that it is an offence to
practice as a lawyer without authority. I promise
to change if I am set free.”

An act punishable under section 378(1), 78(b)
and 327 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State,
2011, the police charged him before a Tinubu
Magistrate court where he pleaded not guilty to
the charges leveled against him and was placed
on a 500,000 bail which he could not meet up
with.
He is currently been remanded at the Ikoyi Prison
until the case would be heard again on the 3rd of
March 2014.