The Federal Government has withdrawn an earlier criminal charge against senior lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, and subsequently re-arraigned him before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on a fresh 12-count charge bordering on the alleged procurement and use of a false Nigerian international passport.
At proceedings before the FCT High Court sitting in Maitama, counsel for the prosecution, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who is the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, informed the court of the withdrawal of the earlier charge filed by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation. Shortly after, the prosecution presented a new 12-count information against Ozekhome and a co-defendant, Ponfa Useni, also known as Tali Shani.
In the new charge, the Federal Government alleged that Ozekhome, Useni and the late former military governor of old Bendel State, Jeremiah Useni, conspired to procure and use a false Nigerian International Passport bearing No. A07535463 in the name “Tali Shani.”
According to the prosecution, the passport was allegedly fabricated and purportedly issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service. The government claimed it was intended to support a claim to a property located at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2, United Kingdom.
The alleged offences, said to have occurred between 2020 and 2025 within the jurisdiction of the FCT High Court, include conspiracy, forgery, personation, cheating by personation, abetment and possession of property reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully obtained, contrary to various provisions of the Penal Code Law, 2009.
Specifically, the prosecution alleged that in May 2020, Useni (also referred to as Tali Shani) falsely personated a fictitious individual and executed an irrevocable power of attorney in that assumed name. Ozekhome was accused of abetting the alleged impersonation by jointly executing the power of attorney to facilitate the London property claim.
The government further alleged that Ozekhome had control of the London property and received £18,000 in rental proceeds from it in 2022, knowing or having reason to suspect that the property had been unlawfully obtained under a fictitious identity.
Counts 11 and 12 of the charge also accused the defendants of conspiring to produce and making a false document dated May 4, 2023, titled “Re: Request for Authentication of Nigerian Passport No. A07535463 Belonging to Mr. Tali Shani,” purportedly issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service, again allegedly to support the property claim.
General Jeremiah Useni, who was named in the charge as a co-conspirator, is deceased and therefore not standing trial.
Ozekhome and his co-defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The trial judge subsequently adjourned the matter to a later date for hearing, while maintaining earlier bail conditions granted to the defendants.
The case adds a new twist to the protracted legal battle surrounding the disputed London property and the alleged use of forged immigration documents, with the Federal Government indicating its readiness to pursue the matter to conclusion.
