The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has filed a 12-count criminal charge against constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Agbedor Abu Ozekhome, over an alleged scheme to fraudulently claim ownership of a property in London.
The charges, filed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), also name Ponfa Useni, also known as Tali Shani, as a co-defendant. The case has yet to be assigned to a judge for arraignment.
According to the charge, Ozekhome and Useni allegedly conspired to forge documents, including a Nigerian International Passport bearing the name “Tali Shani,” purportedly issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service, to support a claim to a property located at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2, United Kingdom.
The prosecution alleged that the forged passport, numbered A07535463, was created and used between 2020 and 2025 to facilitate the ownership claim. The offences are said to contravene multiple provisions of the Penal Code Law, 2009.
In separate counts, Useni is accused of impersonating a fictitious individual, Tali Shani, and executing an irrevocable power of attorney dated May 30, 2020, to advance the property claim. Ozekhome is alleged to have abetted the impersonation and jointly executed the document.
The charge further alleges that Ozekhome had control of the London property and received £18,000 in rent from it, despite the asset being reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully obtained through the use of a fictitious identity linked to the late General Jeremiah Useni.
Additional counts accuse the defendants of conspiring in 2023 to forge a document titled “Request for Authentication of Nigerian Passport No. A07535463 Belonging to Mr. Tali Shani,” purportedly issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service, to reinforce their claim.
The fresh charges were filed less than 24 hours after the Attorney General withdrew an earlier case instituted against Ozekhome by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
No date has been fixed for the defendants’ arraignment.
