Ebonyi state Police command Wednesday arrested a fake lawyer.
He allegedly claimed to be a lawyer but later said it is his father that is a lawyer.
A source from the state Police command told Blueprint 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, Wednesday, and questioned over who had the car he was driving that had NBA stickers on it.
The source who spoke on a condition of anonymity said on interrogation by the NBA Car/Sticker taskforce, the suspect speeded off with one of the lawyers, who hopped into his car for further inquiries.
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.
Also narrating the incident to journalists, chairman of the NBA, Abakaliki Branch, Okorie Ogbonna, said the suspect committed a crime by claiming to be a lawyer, while he was not, accused of kidnapping one of his members.
He said: “In our branch or even at the national secretariat, we as a unit that checks and monitors the use of NBA stickers by none lawyers work with the federal and states 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, bards 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 into the profession and destroy its image. It is a noble profession and we can’t condone evil.
“And in consonance with the Police and other security agencies, we have a committee that goes out intermittently to monitor vehicles with NBA stickers and when we intercept you and you verify yourself with documents evidencing yourself as a lawyer, that is when we can let you go. And if you are not a lawyer, we will hand you over to the Police. And with this, we have prosecuted and sent many to prisons.
“Like today, the committee members were on duty. Some people were intercepted and interrogated. Many of them convinced the committee that they were legal practitioners or
their spouses were legal practitioners and they were allowed to go.
“But there was an instant case of a motorist, who refused to entertain our questions and even speeded off with our member in his car. We had to inform the Commissioner of Police in the state, who detailed the A-Unit or a detachment of Police men, who came to arrest him. That was a clear case of kidnapping.”
Also speaking, the chairman of the NBA Car/Sticker Taskforce, Sampson Ekigbo, stated that the suspect threatened to kill him and his team members.
