Court Allows Ozekhome to Travel Abroad for Medical Treatment

The FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, has set Thursday as the day to rule on an application by senior lawyer Mike Ozekhome to travel to the UK for health reasons.

This decision came after Mr Ozekhome, who is facing charges of forgery and impersonation, got the prosecution team to agree not to oppose his travel request.

Trial judge Chizoba Oji instructed the Attorney General of the Federation's office to bring Mr Ozekhome’s passport and that of his co-defendant to court. It was revealed in court on Tuesday that these passports had not been submitted to the court's registry.

The judge found out that the prosecution had kept the defendants' passports and did not deposit them as part of the bail conditions set by the court in February. The judge ordered the prosecution to "unfailingly produce the two international passports to the court as directed."

On February 27, the AGF's office charged Mr Ozekhome and his co-defendant, Ponfa Useni, with 12 counts of forgery and impersonation. These charges arose from a dispute over property ownership in the UK. The judge granted bail to both men at N10 million each, with one surety each. The judge also ordered that their passports be submitted to the court.

During the hearing for the travel application, Mr Ozekhome’s lawyer, Ferdinand Orbih, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, told the court that his client needed his passport to travel to the UK for medical reasons. He explained that a doctor in the UK recommended the trip, which is expected to last six weeks. Mr Orbih assured the court that Mr Ozekhome would return the passport three days after his medical trip.

The prosecution lawyer, Aisha Tahir, did not oppose the travel application. The judge then inquired about the location of the defendants' passports. Ms Tahir said they were with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The judge requested that the passports be brought to court within an hour. Unfortunately, the prosecution did not show up until two hours later without the passports. Ms Tahir informed the court that it was hard to reach the investigation officer and asked for more time to provide the passports.

Mr Orbih did not object to this delay. The judge then postponed the matter until Thursday for the submission of the passports and to make a ruling on the travel application.

Mr Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni are facing 12 counts of impersonation and forgery. Ponfa Useni is the son of the late Jeremiah Useni, who was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory during the regime of former military ruler, the late Sani Abacha.

The late Mr Useni, who passed away in January 2025, owned the London property in question under the name Tali Shani. His alleged attempt to transfer ownership to Mr Ozekhome led to the presentation of forged documents, which a tribunal in London found to support false identities.

In the eight charges related to the property dispute, Nigerian authorities accuse Mr Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni of conspiring in 2020 with the late Jeremiah Useni. They allegedly created a fake Nigerian passport with number A07535463 and the name Tali Shani. They reportedly used this forged passport to claim a property in the UK.

The prosecution also claims that Mr Ozekhome assisted Ponfa Useni in impersonating Tali Shani in 2020. They allegedly made a fake "Irrevocable Power of Attorney" to help Mr Ozekhome claim the property.

Both men have denied all the charges against them. Mr Ozekhome’s prosecution in Nigeria follows a judgment from a London tribunal that blocked him from claiming a property in North London in September 2025.

In August 2021, Mr Ozekhome tried to transfer the property to his name, saying it was a gift from someone who called himself Tali Shani in gratitude for legal services.

This was challenged in September 2022 by Westfields Solicitors, who claimed to represent "Ms Tali Shani." They insisted that she was the registered owner of the property since 1993 and had never signed any transfer document.

Judge Paton of the UK Tribunal ruled that the house was secretly bought in 1993 by the late Mr Useni using a false identity. The tribunal found that Mr Ozekhome’s claims rested on fraud, impersonation, and forged documents. It concluded that the late Mr Useni was indeed the real buyer of the property in 1993.

The tribunal also uncovered fake Nigerian identity records, including a passport, National Identification Number, and Tax Identification Number, allegedly created with the help of corrupt officials at the National Identity Management Commission, the Immigration Service, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

These developments led the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee to suspend Mr Ozekhome’s SAN rank while a disciplinary hearing takes place.