Imo CoP constitute committee to arrest fake lawyers

The Imo State Police Command on Friday constituted a committee to apprehend fake and quack lawyers in the state.

The state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, who spoke when a team from the Owerri branch of Nigeria Bar Association visited him at the command headquarters in Owerri, said quackery was a crime in law.

Yaro announced that the officer in charge of legal matters in the command, Stephen Onwochei, would chair the committee while a member of the Owerri branch of the NBA, Thaddeus Okey, would serve as the secretary.

The CP, who reiterated his commitment to ending quackery in the state, disclosed that a fake lawyer was last week remanded at Owerri Correctional Centre.

He vowed to deal decisively with legal infractions in the state, adding that only qualified lawyers would be allowed to practice in the state.

Yaro said, “Under my watch, we are committed to having only qualified lawyers practice in the state. I have therefore set a Committee against fake lawyers and it is headed by the officer in charge of legal matters at the command while a member of the NBA who is a former police officer Will serve as secretary.

“Already, a woman who was parading herself as a lawyer is already in prison for impersonation. In our laws, impersonation is a serious crime and we won’t allow fake lawyers have their ways in Imo State.”