The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen on Monday disclosed that some lawyers, in their desperate bid to get the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) forged court judgments to qualify for nomination for the rank.

Speaking at a special court session of the Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 2018/2019 legal year and swearing in of newly conferred SAN, Justice Onnoghen said the forged judgments were part of the requisite conditions submitted to the Legal Practitioners and Privileges Committee (LPPC) for scrutiny.

The CJN said the desperate legal practitioners were caught by the eagle eyes of the LPPC members during the screening exercise and added that, even though the names of the offending lawyers were not made public, they have been reported to police and they were apprehended for interrogation.

Justice Onnoghen further disclosed that the arrested lawyers would soon be prosecuted for offence of criminal forgery among others and added that, “I have to point out the fact that in the just-concluded exercise, some applicants were found to have engaged in dishonourable conduct such as forgery of judgment, resulting in their being reported to the police for investigation and possible prosecution.

“I would like at this point to thank the distinguished members of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee tasked with this assignment of scrutinising over 4,000 judgments, trial proceedings and publications and at the same time conduct disciplinary proceedings on petitions received against Senior Advocates of Nigeria,” he said.

•Excerpted from aTribune report