A fake legal practitioner, who presented himself as a counsel before a magistrate court has been nabbed.
According to findings, Adeola Babatunde has been practising for over 10 years and representing various clients without legit papers.
Nigerian media is reporting that the ‘lawyer’ was appearing before Magistrate A. A Adeyeba in Osogbo, Osun State on March 10, 2021, where he was to move a motion when his tricks were discovered.
“The way and manner in which the fake lawyer conducted himself in the court raised suspicion which infuriated one of the lawyers in the court,” an outlet in Nigeria has reported.
The lawyer, O.U Yussuf requested the court through an oral application to make enquiries about the status of Babatunde as a lawyer.
The magistrate then gave a prompt order for the arrest of the defendant. The fake lawyer was later charged by Police in a case file number MOS/152C/2021.
But, according to a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Osogbo branch, Dawood Ajetunmobi said the Ministry of Justice has taken over the case from the police after the union requested it to do so.
Meanwhile, the trial of the defendant which was supposed to come up on Wednesday, 8, September 2021 before the Osogbo Chief Magistrate A.K Ajala was stalled due to the absence of a lawyer.
In his ruling, Magistrate Ajala refused the prosecutor’s prayer and adjourned the matter to September 24, 2021, for fresh arraignment since the matter is coming up before him for the first time.
