A 37-year-old graduate of Estate Management at the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Melvin Oromidayo, has been sentenced to nine years imprisonment by an Ipetumodu Magistrate’s Court in Osun State for impersonating a lawyer.
Oromidayo was said to have been practising law and handling cases at different courts for unsuspecting members of the public for over a year before he was apprehended at the Ipetumodu court while appearing for an accused person.
The Police Prosecutor, ASP Joseph Adebayo, informed the court that Oromidayo was arrested on January 20, at Ipetumodu Magistrate’s Court, Ipetumodu, Ife North Local Government Area of Osun while handling a case as a lawyer.
Adebayo said Oromidayo forged a stamp with the inscription: “Melvin A Oromidayo ESQ, Barrister, Solicitor, Real Legal Chamber,” which was false.
The prosecutor explained that the accused person has been using the stamp to pretend as a qualified lawyer that was called to the Nigerian Bar.
But on January 21, Adebayo said Oromidayo confessed that he was not a law student neither did he attend any university. The accused person was said to have finished from Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti where he studied Estate Management.
Adebayo stated that the offence contravened sections 467(4) and 484 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Osun, 2002. Oromidayo pleaded guilty to the three-count charge of forgery, impersonation and fraud that he was slammed with by the police.
The presiding Magistrate, Mrs. Abosede Sarumi, convicted Oromidayo as charged and sentenced him to three years imprisonment for each of the three counts with hard labour and without any option of fine.
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