ANAMBRA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – A middle-year old man, Obinna Orezue, who was sentenced to 3-month imprisonment for contempt of court has blamed his ordeal on the harsh economic situation in the country.
Orezue disclosed this after an Anambra State High Court sitting at Otuocha sentenced him to a three month jail term in a correctional centre, with hard labour.
Pleading for pardon, the convict said he has five children and an unemployed wife to take care of, saying that he has never appeared in court but had only been filing processes for clients at the court registry.
“I know I have done something wrong and I am pleading for mercy. It was the economic hardship in the country that pushed him into the act.
“I did it because I did not want to be caught for stealing or any criminal activities. Again, I have a passion for law and that was why I took up the act,” he said.
Orezue, a native of Abba in Njikoka Council Area of the state, had appeared for a litigant during hearing on a land matter on the 13th of June, 2024.
He was arrested at the High Court 2, Otuocha Division, dressed in the full regalia of a legal practitioner but could not make reference to basic tenets of the profession.
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This had raised suspicions from the lawyers in court including the judge, leading up to his interrogation and subsequent arrest.
Orezue, upon interrogation by the presiding judge, justice Okechukwu Onunkwo confessed that he never studied law in any University.
He said he was employed as a junior lawyer in a law firm but did not provide his qualifying LL.B certificate or the certificate with which he was called to bar to his employer.
According to him, he studied political science at the Anambra State University and graduated in 2008, but has not gotten any serious venture to do since then.
He further explained that he was just a month as a junior counsel in a law firm based in Onitsha.
Delivering a judgement on the matter, Justice Onunkwo slammed a three-month sentence on the man with hard labour for contempt of court.
The sentence is with effect from 13th June, 2024 when he was arrested.
Justice Onunkwo explained that the sentence was mild because the court considered his plea on the ground that he has an unemployed wife and five children to cater for.
The sentence he said, should serve as deterrent to others who may wish to toe the same part.
The court also handed over the law firm that employed the convict without verifying his academic record to the Onitsha branch of the Nigeria Bar Association for investigation and proper sanctions.
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“Let it be known that the legal profession is a prestigious profession, meant only for gentlemen, who have subjected themselves to thorough legal learning, passed all the examinations, found fit in character and learning and subsequently called to bar.
“It cannot be allowed to be denigrated or infested by ignorant charlatans such as the contender, Mr Orezue or his ilk, who in their thinking, believe that they can gain admittance into the legal profession by adorning the barrister’s ropes, falsely pretending to be members of the bar.
“Mr Orezue, momentarily deceived this court on the 13th of June and sat among learned lawyers. What impudence! What temerity!
“I recognize that the hard economic condition of the country pushed him into the act, as he claimed. He has also cooperated this morning.
“But due to the enormity of this ignoble act, I therefore convict of contempt before the face of this court and sentence him to three calendar months in prison, with labour,” the judge read in the judgement.
