From John Dike, Osogbo

A 25-year-old man, Abdulgafar Ayanrinde, was arraigned on Tuesday before a Magistrates’ Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun state, for allegedly impersonating as a lawyer to dupe unsuspecting members of the public.

He was alleged to have duped many innocent victims including a Point of Sales (POS) lady in Osogbo, the state capital.

It was gathered that the defendant was apprehended by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), at Ilorin, Kwara state after a tip off, and subsequently made a confessional statement.

The defendant who claimed he dropped out of the University of Ibadan, where he was studying Law, was said to have revealed during interrogation that his father, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), abandoned his mother, and that led to his inability to complete his education.

Ayanrinde was brought to the court by men of the NSCDC and slammed with a two-count charge of impersonation and fraud.

The prosecuting counsel, T. J. Ayayi, informed the court that Ayarinde paraded himself as a lawyer at the premises of the Osun State High Court on May 22, 2023 and also defrauded a female PoS agent of the sum of N150,000 at INEC Area, Osogbo on May 18, this year.

The charge read, “That you Ayarinde Abdulgafar on the 22nd day of May, 2023, at the Osun State High Court, Oke-Fia, Osogbo, Osun State, in the Osogbo Magisterial District, willfully represented yourself to one Abdulsalam Adbulhafeez Abiodun that you are a legal practitioner and did pretend that you are qualified to act as a legal practitioner, representation which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(1) of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11, LFN 2004 and punishable under the same section.

“That you (defendant) on the 18th day of May, 2023, at INEC Area, Osogbo, Osun State, in the Osogbo Magisterial District, with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of N150,000. 00 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) from one Adeoye Iyanu Seun on the pretence that you would transfer the said sum to her Polaris Bank Account, a pretence which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(2) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act – Cap A6 L.F.N. 2004 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

Ayarinde pleaded guilty to the allegations levelled against him.

The defendant was not represented by any counsel in the court.

The prosecutor urged the court to adjourn the matter in order for him to prepare for the presentation of facts in lieu of the defendant’s guilty-plea.

The presiding magistrate, M. A. Olatunji, adjourned the case till July 5 for presentation of facts.