In the news yesterday, Hon. Justice R.O. Onunkwo of the Otuocha High Court No 2 has sentenced Mr. Obinna Orezue, an over 30-year-old man from Abba, Anambra State, to three months imprisonment with hard labor for contempt in facie curia.
Recall that Mr. Orezue was arrested last week while trying to represent a plaintiff in case no. OT/120/2022. During the proceedings, Orezue’s lack of legal knowledge/expertise became evident when he was unable to correctly answer procedural questions. His inconsistent educational claims further raised suspicions.
It is imperative to note here that the news making the rounds that he was convicted for impersonation is wrong. Rather, he was convicted for contempt in facie curia. The court found that the conduct of a laymen in adorning the Barristers robes, sitting at the Bar, mentioning a case, even before trained and qualified lawyers also seated at the Bar, rising and pleading the case as an Attorney trained and qualified to do so, constitutes grave scorn, mockery and dishonour to the authority of the court and the whole system of administration of justice.
Such conduct ridicules the court and exposes the court system as an unserious institution where anything goes. The implication of this conduct if allowed to thrive or fester is that persons untrained and unqualified to practice as lawyers can then easily procure and adorn the Barristers robes, proceed to the courts, sit at the Bar, mention and plead cases as qualified lawyers and then walk away without consequences.
This scorns and makes mockery of the entire system of administration of justice. Any layman who has the nerves and audacity to do so before a judge commits contempt in facie curia and such Judge must swiftly and decisively cite him for contempt in the face of the court and deal with him in brevi manu.
