For ‘not inconveniencing the court’, fake lawyer who defrauded okada rider gets ‘only’ three years jail term

A chief magistrates’ court in Choba, Rivers State, on Monday, sentenced a fake lawyer, Sunday Ejiofor, to three years in prison.

Ejiofor, who was accused of defrauding a commercial motorcyclist, had pleaded guilty to the one count preferred against him.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr Israel Agbeso, said he sentenced the convict to only three years in prison because he (Ejiofor) did not inconvenience the court during the trial, adding that the sentence was without any option of fine.

“The defendant, having pleaded guilty, is hereby convicted. He is convicted on the lone count. Having considered the defendant’s act of not inconveniencing the court, he is hereby sentenced to three years in prison without the option of a fine,” Agbeso stated.

It was learnt that the convict had hired a commercial motorcyclist, Wisdom Phillip, to convey him to different places, but refused to pay the agreed sum of N15,000 for the three-day service rendered.

The charge stated, “That you, Sunday Ejiofor, on March 25, 2019, along Aluu Road, falsely represented yourself by action as a legal practitioner.”

But Ejiofor begged the court for mercy after pleading guilty to the charge.

The police prosecutor, Tom Ledornun, had told the court that the convict showed the motorcyclist an identification card bearing his (Ejiofor) passport photograph, which indicated that he was a lawyer.

Ledornun stated, “The defendant had engaged the services of a motorcyclist at the cost of N5,000 per day. The motorcyclist conveyed him around for three days, amounting to N15,000.

“The motorcyclist demanded his money after the service was rendered, but the defendant represented himself to be a legal practitioner and threatened to hand over the motorcyclist to the police. He displayed an identity card bearing his image and wearing a lawyer’s wig.

“Passersby became interested and took both of them to the police. The police requested him (Ejiofor) to identify himself with his seal, number and the year he was called to bar, but he could not.”