WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS INVOLVE A LAWYER
Upuu Nguher Jeremiah Esq
As the world evolves and as people continue to engage others in various social and commercial activities, dishonesty, deceit and fraud have also evolved and have continued to sully many of these engagements. Our laws have also evolved over the years as a means of social control and almost every aspect of our life is regulated by law.
Unfortunately, a lot of people do not have even the basic knowledge of legal principles. Some, from their engagements with lawyers and personal experiences, have acquired faint knowledge of the law and these set of people are the most dangerous as it is often said that “half knowledge of the law is very dangerous”. They are very dangerous because they rely on their faint and inadequate knowledge of the law to commit the worst blunders. Even amongst lawyers, no matter how deep one studies and practices the law, it is impossible for him to know all the laws. “God forbid that a lawyer knows all the law, but a good lawyer is one who knows where to find the law” – (by Lord Denning)
It goes without saying therefore, that lawyers have an edge over and above non-lawyers as far as the knowledge and interpretation of the basic principles of law is concerned. It is also safe to submit that everyone needs a lawyer and the services of a lawyer have become so essential that it is now very dangerous and risky to engage in any transaction without involving a lawyer. This is because fraudulent and dishonest people are on the prowl and are bent on extorting money from unsuspecting members of the public using dubious means.
In Abuja for instance, a lot of people on the streets of Abuja are fraudsters who are out to reap where they did not sow.
Most of them parade themselves as contractors and facilitators who have close ties with Ministers and top government officials. They fabricate contract documents and claim to have obtained such documents from Ministries, agencies and Departments of government. They will collect money from you under the pretext of “facilitating” the award of a contract or employment into any government agency or security agencies and you will wait for eternity to see the award or employment letters.
Some fraudsters are land agents and property developers. If you are not careful, that mouthwatering offer that may make you think God has finally answered your prayer may be the beginning of your darkest moments.
Fraudsters are everywhere. A police officer who was dismissed from the services of the Nigeria Police Force went to Brekete family and Ahmed Isah fought for his reinstatement. After his reinstatement, he went back to the same Brekete family premises to dupe someone else and was caught in the process and handed over to the police.
People who easily fall into their trap are mostly people who like cutting corners, who are greedy and people who think they know all and do not need the services of a lawyer. Majority of these people are those who have faint knowledge of the law but think they know all. Some of them are people who think it will cost them more to involve a lawyer. But the truth remains that it is always safer to engage a lawyer and pay for his services and be insulated against fraudulent and dishonest people because most of these fraudsters back-out the moment they see a lawyer.
Recently, a Client came to me with a document from a non-existent body. The people claimed they wanted rice in large quantity for members of their union. At a glance, I found a lot of discrepancies. The name and address of the union seemed very fictitious and I drew my Client’s attention to it immediately. This was coming shortly after he was duped. He was going to be duped for the second if he did not involve a lawyer.
One other fundamental issue worthy of note is the fact that some lawyers are also not trustworthy. Some of them collude with fraudsters to defraud unsuspecting members of the public. It is therefore important to have a lawyer you can trust. Some fraudsters even parade themselves as lawyers. They are people who have either dropped out of law school or have worked in a law firm and have acquired basic knowledge of legal principles. So, it is very important to engage a lawyer you know quite much about, not just anyone you meet who claims to be a lawyer.
In conclusion, let me reiterate that it is more profitable to engage the services of a lawyer when engaging in any transaction. If you do not engage a lawyer at the budding stage and you get defrauded, you will still come back to the lawyers for them to write petitions to the Police or EFCC or for them to sue your fraudsters to Court and this time you will pay even more after already losing so much to the fraudsters. Always involve a lawyer.
