A convicted fake lawyer identified as Pastor Alpha Judge, who was released from prison on Thursday, may be heading back to the gulag if he is found guilty of impersonation.
The Port Harcourt Branch of Nigerian Bar Association said that it had begun the prosecution of the 58-year-old man for alleged impersonation.
The suspected fake lawyer was arrested on September 9, 2015, at a High Court in Rivers State presided over by Justice Adolphus Enebeli.
Judge was said to have appeared before the court to move a motion to grant bail to an accused person.
But the ‘fake lawyer’ exposed himself when he could not pronounce some legal terms correctly, a development that made Justice Enebeli to sentence him to three months in prison for contempt of court.
However, Judge, who concluded his three-month jail term handed down to him by Justice Enebeli, might get a higher sentence as the NBA, Port Harcourt branch has begun move to arraign him.
It was gathered that the suspect had been parading himself as a lawyer for over 10 years and had been swindling unsuspecting members of the public.
Speaking with Southern City News, the Public Relations Officer of the NBA, Port Harcourt branch, Mr. Angus Chukwuka, said the union had commenced the formal prosecution of the accused for impersonation.
Chukwuka said the offence was punishable in law, adding that the NBA had taken up the responsibility to eliminate quackery from the profession.
“The man, who addressed himself as Pastor Dr. Alpha Judge (Esq) was apprehended on the 9th of September, 2015, in the High Court presided by Justice Adolphus Enebele when he appeared to represent an accused person in court.
“In fact, he filed a motion for the court to grant bail to an accused person. The court and the judge saw how he was going about conducting his matter and after putting some questions to him, he was unable to satisfy the judge.
“After the questions, the truth came up that the so-called Pastor Judge was actually a fake lawyer and that he has been holding out himself as a lawyer and has been conducting cases for persons without being to the Nigerian Law School.
“When the judge confirmed that he was a fake lawyer, what he did was to immediately slam him with three months in prison for contempt of court. This order came with another directive from the judge that after serving the three-month jail term, the suspect would be prosecuted for impersonation.
So, the three months have elapsed and the NBA has taken up the case as already directed by the judge. He would be prosecuted for impersonation,” Chukwuka said.
Source:onlinenigeria
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