Six people were on Tuesday arraigned before an Abeokuta Chief Magistrates’ Court, Isabo, on charges of impersonation, unlawful preparation of land instruments and conduct likely to cause a breach of the public peace.
The accused — Rebecca Adeola, 32; Moses Toviesi, 23; Abimbola Opeyemi, 43; Precious Oluwole, 18; Eniola Sowunmi, 33; and Agbona Abdulrahman, 36 — pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge, the prosecutor, Insp. Lawrence Olu-Balogun, told the court.
Olu-Balogun said the offences were committed at Isabo area of Abeokuta sometime in 2025 and involved unlawfully representing themselves as legal practitioners and preparing land documents without authorisation.
He said the conduct also amounted to behaviour likely to cause a breach of the public peace.
According to the prosecutor, members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), who suspected illegal activity around the court, approached the suspects while posing as clients — a move that led to their arrest.
He told the court the acts contravened Section 22 of the Legal Practitioners Act (Cap L11 LFN, 2004) and Section 3 of the Land Instruments Preparation Laws of Ogun State (2006), and said the offences were punishable under Section 249(d) of the Criminal Code, Vol. 1, Laws of Ogun State (2006).
Magistrate Mrs A.K. Araba granted each defendant bail in the sum of N1 million with two sureties in like sum.
She ordered that one surety must be a blood relative resident within the magisterial district while the second must be gainfully employed by the Ogun State Government and produce evidence of tax payment to the state.
The defendants were remanded in the Correctional Service Centre pending perfection of bail and the case was adjourned to December 3, 2025 for hearing.
Speaking to journalists at the court, Kayode Aderemi, chairman of the NBA Abeokuta branch, said the association’s crackdown on quack practitioners was necessary to protect the integrity of the legal profession.
“For several times we noticed that certain persons loiter around our courts — in some cases even outside the court axis — and what they do basically is to engage in land instrument preparation for things like deed of assignment, power of attorney, tenancy agreements and others,” Aderemi said.
“But this is clearly against what the law says. What we have done in the past months is to approach them, unknown to them, but we have facts against them. If lawyers are involved, they will not be spared.”
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