The Police in Lagos State have arrested a Ghanaian, Kehinde Dodo, 74, for allegedly parading himself as a lawyer and defrauding unsuspecting members of the public.
The suspect who reportedly paraded himself as a legal practitioner for the past 15 years was arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court on a five-count charge of impersonation, forgery and conspiracy.
The police told the court that Dodo was arrested following a complaint by one David Onwu, that the suspect on June 13, 2011, approached him as a legal practitioner claiming he had a parcel of land to sell to him at Plot 29, Block 78, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, for N80 million.
He alleged that Dodo backed up his claims with some documents supposedly for the said parcel of land after which he paid N1 million as advance payment with a promise to pay the balance on a later date.
Onwu, however, claimed, he that before he could make further payment he had tried to confirm the authenticity of the land but found it not genuine and that the lawyer was a fake.
Efforts by the police to arrest the suspect failed as he appeared to have been warned, however, he was eventually arrested on February 8, 2012, at a criminal hideout following a tip-off.
The suspect was said to have confessed to the police that he was a fake lawyer as well as that the land he wanted to sell to the victim does not exist but was a means of defrauding him.
He was charged before a Lagos Magistrates Court on charges of impersonation and fraud.
According to the police prosecutor, Odugbo Innocent, the offence was punishable under Sections 410, 285(5), 363, 378(1) and 106(a) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.
The accused pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him in court.
Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. M. O. Ogunsanya, adjourned the matter for fact and sentence till February 16, 2012, for facts and sentence and she directed that the accused be remanded in prison custody till the adjourned date.