Drama As Police Nabs ‘Fake’ Lawyer In Ebonyi

The Police in Ebonyi, on Wednesday, arrested a man who claimed he was a lawyer.

A reliable source from the Ebonyi State Police Command told PUNCH Metro that the suspect was stopped at a checkpoint manned by members of the Car/Sticker team of the Nigerian Bar Association (Abakaliki Branch), at the Union Bank Junction Abakaliki, on Wednesday, and questioned over who had the car he was driving, which had NBA stickers on it.

According to the source, who pleaded anonymity, on interrogation by the NBA Car/Sticker taskforce, he sped off with one of the lawyers who had hopped into his car for further inquiries

When trailed and found, Police operatives were said to have arrested him when he was allegedly videoing and taking shots of the taskforce member with his Android phone and threatening to kill him and his members.

Narrating the incident to journalists, on Wednesday, in Abakaliki, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abakaliki Branch, Barr Okorie Ogbonna, said the suspect commited a crime by claiming to be a lawyer, while he was not. He also accused the suspect of kidnapping one of his members.

According to him, “In our branch or even at the national Secretariat, we have a unit that checks and monitors the use of NBA stickers by non lawyers and we work with the federal and state governments to enforce this. And in Abakaliki Branch, we have a committee called the NBA Car/Sticker Committee. This Committee monitors the fraudulent use of NBA stickers, beards and gowns.

“What necessitated this was the unwarranted use of the NBA stickers by some motorists, who impersonate legal practitioners. Recently, we had a case of a vehicle with the NBA sticker, that brought arms and ammunition into the state. And we said we don’t like it and cannot fold our hands and watch people infiltrate the profession and destroy its image.”