A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Thursday remanded an alleged fake lawyer identified as Stanley Epini Ejiroghene in police custody.
Ejiroghene was discovered to have been practising in the state for ten years.
During his cross-examination as a witness in a criminal case, the defendant was exposed in court when he failed to offer answers to inquiries about his sincerity as a lawyer, such as his date of call to the bar and the institution he attended as a law student.
He was later remanded in custody by Justice Chiwendu Nworgu at the request of the Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association’s Port Harcourt branch, Prince Onyekwere, awaiting the conclusion of investigations.
The defense team in the criminal case also presented records from the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the NBA disavowing Ejiroghene as a Nigerian legal practitioner.
Speaking outside the courtroom, the defence lawyer in the said criminal matter Ibikri Otorubio said, “Our suspicion began when the matter first came up for plea and he professed himself to be a learned senior lawyer. He now turned to me and said counsel what is the punishment for a dud cheque? I was taken aback, you mean as a very senior counsel as he professed himself to be, he does not know the punishment for dud check?”
Also speaking, Onyekwere said he asked the court to remand the suspect to prevent him from possible escape.