Kunle ADELABU
A suspected fake lawyer, Mr Charles Ikechukwu Nwadiani , was, on Monday, August 5, 2019, arraigned before the Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Ikorodu Judicial Division of Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria.
The suspect, who appeared confident, was brought to Court in a black pathfinder jeep with registration number APP 206 BD, by the Investigation Police Officer (IPO), Supl. Owolabi Kayode, and armed policemen.
Charles was arraigned before the Chief Magistrate, His Honour F.A Azeez (Mrs).
He was arrested around 4pm at Ibeshe on Saturday, August 3, 2019, and was taken to the Ladegboye Police Station before being moved to Zone 2 Command at Onikan, Lagos, for further interrogation, THE IMPACT gathered.
The suspect pleaded not guilty after the six count charges was read to him .
Charles was accused of impersonating and presenting himself as a lawyer/legal practitioner which is an offence contrary to and punishable under section 380 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.
He was also charged for impersonating and presenting himself as aide to the former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and using same status to dupe and extort money from members of the public which is also punishable under same section.
Charles, on count three, was also charged for impersonating as the Special Adviser to Engr. Rauf Aregbesola when he was the Commissioner of Works, Lagos State, and using same status to also dupe unsuspecting members of the public.
He was accused of forging a document that reads Charles Nwadani & Co, a legal practitioner, and using the document to operate an illegal chamber situated along No. 19, Lajo town, Igbogbo, Lagos, thereby committing an offence contrary to section 363 (a) (b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
More so, Nwadiani was accused of unlawfully obtaining the sum of One million, four hundred and fifty thousand naira (N1, 450, 000, 00) from one Samsideen Olakorede Ali with pretence to help him as a lawyer/legal practitioner to write a petition to the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, which he failed to do, thereby, committing offence contrary to and punishable under section 314 (1) (2) (3) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
He was also alleged to have resisted arrest by men of the Nigeria Police, Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Lagos, on July 12,2019,at Olu-Odo in Igbogbo, Ikorodu, whereby committing an offence contrary to section 117 (1) of the Criminal law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.
At 2.35pm when the matter was called, Barr. Suleiman Hazmat appeared for the Defendant and argued that the offence was a baillable one and prayed that the court should grant his client same.
Barr. Julius Nnamani, who appeared with about 10 other lawyers for the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ikorodu branch, called on the Chief Magistrate not to grant the Defendant his prayer on the ground that the suspect had put the bar association to great task.
He added that all appeals to him to present necessary credentials to back up his claim as a lawyer were ignored.
He added that Nwadiani has taken the matter to the force headquarters in Abuja.
Nnamani also stated that the suspect has deceived many unsuspecting members of the public.
Ruling on the matter, Chief Magistrate Azeez granted the suspect bail, while also asking him to present two sureties that are gainfully employed with fifteen thousand naira each.
Meanwhile, in a petition to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), against Mr Charles Nwadiani, dated, July 16, 2019, and titled, “Petition of criminal conspiracy, threat to life, intimidation, impersonation, false information, forgery, obtaining by false pretence and conduct likely to cause breach of peace”, and signed by Barr. Adebayo Akinlade and Julius Nnamani as Chairman and Secretary, NBA Ikorodu, respectively, it was alleged that the suspect has been engaging in nefarious activities by parading himself as a legal practitioner/Lawyer and as a result enriched himself by duping innocent and unsuspecting members of the public.
The petition also states that:
“It is imperative to state that among the surreptitious means used by DR. CHARLES NWADIANI in duping people are but not limited to proclaiming himself to be the personal assistant to the Vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, collecting huge sums of money from clients under the guise of filing court processes on their behalf, moving about and parading himself as a close allies to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (former Governor of Lagos State)”.
The petition also states that the bar association discovered that Nwadiani is not a lawyer through a discreet investigation conducted by a former Vice Chairman of the association, Prince Adetola Ladega, who is willing to testify against him.
The petitioners, therefore, urged the police authority to investigate the allegations against the suspect and bring him to book.
It was also stated in the petition that the association is willing and ready to provide necessary evidences.
“It is on the basis of this we, hereby, seek to alert the constituted authority which comprises of expert police detectives to investigate these assertions so as to bring him to book and most importantly, to protect the Legal profession from being jeopardized by this criminal minded personality and others alike. We have all evidences to back our allegations against him and we shall not hesitate to provide them when required”.
In an interview with the NBA Secretary, Barr Julius Nnamani, he stated that the suspect was given opportunity to defend himself by presenting his certificates and proof that he is a lawyer but all to no avail.
He warned others parading themselves as lawyers which they are not to desist from the illegal act.
Barr. Adefolaju Olapa, the defendant’s lawyer, in an interview with journalists at the court, stated that his client is innocent until proven otherwise.
“The country practices accusatorial system of law, that’s why you see the police handcuffing him (his client) and parading him before the press without being pronounced guilty yet. But the right thing is that when someone is alleged of an offence, he should be allowed to go to trial to prove his innocence.
“In the extant law that we practice in this country, it is trite that anybody that is accused of any wrong doing is presumed innocent until proven otherwise but what we have seen in this matter here today is the presumption of guilty”.
He alleged that the root cause of his client’s trial is land matter, though, he didn’t explain the details.
“I will equally say that the root of this matter has to do with landgrabbing. There are some legal practitioners that are aiding and abetting land grabbers in Ikorodu and Lagos State as a whole and that is why this persecution that you are presently seeing is going on”.
Barr Adefolaju stated that the matter has been taking away from Zone 2 to the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit at the Force Headquarters in Abuja and described the arraignment in Ikorodu as “a charade”.
He alleged that the NBA Ikorodu failed to give the accused audience to proof his qualification as a lawyer before passing its verdict on him.
He stated that his client is a politically exposed person.
“My client is a politically exposed person. He was the former Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State and he has politicians with whom he has worked and still working with”.
The matter has been adjourned till October 22, 2019.
