The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, Abuja, has fixed Thursday for ruling on an application filed by senior lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, seeking permission to travel to the United Kingdom on health grounds.
Justice Chizoba Oji fixed the date on Tuesday after Ozekhome’s counsel, Ferdinand Orbih, SAN, moved the application and the prosecution, represented by Aisha Tahir from the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, did not oppose the request.
Ozekhome is standing trial alongside Ponfa Useni on a 12-count charge bordering on alleged forgery and impersonation arising from a disputed property ownership matter in the United Kingdom.
The defendants were arraigned on February 27 by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Following their arraignment, the court granted each defendant bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety each. As part of the bail conditions, the court also ordered the defendants to submit their international passports.
However, during Tuesday’s proceedings, it emerged that the defendants’ passports had not been deposited with the court’s registry as earlier directed.
The prosecution informed the court that the passports were with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Justice Oji consequently ordered the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to produce the two international passports before the court, directing that they must be “unfailingly” brought as earlier ordered.
Earlier, while moving the travel application, Orbih told the court that Ozekhome needed his passport to enable him travel to the United Kingdom for medical attention.
He said the proposed trip was based on the recommendation of a doctor in the UK and was expected to last six weeks.
The defence counsel assured the court that Ozekhome would return the passport within three days of returning from the medical trip.
The prosecution did not oppose the application.
The judge then directed the prosecution to produce the passports within an hour. However, after about two hours, the prosecution returned to court without the documents.
Tahir told the court that efforts to reach the investigating officer were unsuccessful and sought an adjournment to enable the prosecution produce the passports.
Orbih did not object to the request, after which Justice Oji adjourned the matter till Thursday for the production of the passports and ruling on Ozekhome’s application.
The charges against Ozekhome and Useni stem from a disputed North London property linked to the late General Jeremiah Useni, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.
Ponfa Useni is the son of the late Jeremiah Useni, who died in January 2025.
According to the prosecution, the late Useni allegedly owned the London property under the fictitious name, Tali Shani.
The prosecution alleged that in 2020, Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni conspired with the late Jeremiah Useni to make a false Nigerian passport bearing the name Tali Shani and passport number A07535463.
The defendants were also accused of presenting the allegedly forged passport, purportedly issued by the Nigerian Immigration Service, to support a claim over the United Kingdom property.
The prosecution further alleged that the defendants used the false passport to facilitate the claim of the property and that Ozekhome allegedly helped Ponfa Useni impersonate Tali Shani.
It was also alleged that a fake “Irrevocable Power of Attorney” was created to enable Ozekhome claim the property.
The defendants have denied all the allegations.
Ozekhome’s prosecution in Nigeria followed a September 2025 judgment of a London property tribunal which blocked his attempt to claim the North London property.
In August 2021, Ozekhome reportedly sought to transfer the property to himself, claiming it was a gift from a person who presented himself as Tali Shani in appreciation for legal services.
The move was challenged in September 2022 by Westfields Solicitors, which claimed to represent “Ms Tali Shani,” who asserted that she had been the registered owner of the property since 1993 and had never signed any transfer.
In its decision, the UK tribunal held that the property was secretly purchased in 1993 by the late Jeremiah Useni using a false identity.
The tribunal also found that the steps taken to claim the property were linked to alleged fraud, impersonation and forged documents, although it concluded that the late Useni was the genuine purchaser of the property in 1993.
The London tribunal was also said to have uncovered fraudulent Nigerian identity records, including a passport, National Identification Number and Tax Identification Number allegedly generated with the connivance of corrupt officials in relevant Nigerian agencies.
Following the developments, the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee suspended Ozekhome’s SAN rank pending the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings.
So far, two prosecution witnesses have testified before the FCT High Court.
The first prosecution witness, Akim Aridegbe, a principal staff officer to the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, testified in March that the passport bearing the name Tali Shani was fake and was not issued by the NIS.
According to him, although the passport shared some features of a genuine document, it had no record in the NIS database.
The second prosecution witness, Bamaiyi Mairiga, a forensic examiner, also testified that the passport was fake.
During cross-examination on Monday, Ozekhome’s counsel questioned Mairiga on the technical procedures and principles applied in the forensic examination, but the witness maintained that his findings showed the Tali Shani passport was not genuine.
