THE Nigerian government has filed a criminal case against Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate, for allegedly forging and using false documents in a disputed UK property.
According to TheCable, The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) filed a three-count charge, marked FCT/HC/CR/010/2026 against the lawyer, on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja on Friday, accusing him of forgery, use of false documents and giving false information in connection with a disputed property in the United Kingdom.
“That you Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN (M) ’68yrs’ of No. 53, Nile Street, Maitama, Abuja, sometime in August, 2021 or thereabout at a place outside Nigeria i.e. London, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, directly received house 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX purportedly given to you by one Mr. Shani Tali, an act you knew constitutes a felony and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 13 and punishable under Section 24 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences, Act, 2000,” part of the suit read.
According to the charge sheet, Ozekhome allegedly presented forged documents, including a Nigerian international passport, to support a claim of ownership of a property located at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX, during proceedings before the UK First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
“That you Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN (M) ’68yrs’ of No. 53, Nile Street, Maitama, Abuja, sometime in August 2021 or thereabout at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, while being a legal practitioner and senior advocate of Nigeria did make a false document, to wit: Nigeria passport A07535463 bearing the name of Mr Shani Tali with intent to use same to support claim of ownership of property known and described as 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX with intent to commit fraud, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 363 and punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code CAP 532 laws of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, 2006.
“That you Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN (M) ’68yrs’ of No. 53, Nile Street, Maitama, Abuja, sometime in August 2021 or thereabout at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, while being a legal practitioner and senior advocate of Nigeria dishonestly used as genuine a false Nigeria passport A07535463 bearing the name of Mr Shani Tali to support claim of ownership of property known and described a s 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX when you had reason to believe that the said document was false and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 366 and punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code CAP 532 laws of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, 2006,” the charge added.
The Federal Government alleged that the offences were committed around August 2021 in Abuja, but that the documents were later used in the UK proceedings.
The case has not yet been assigned a trial date.
The criminal charge follows growing scrutiny around Ozekhome’s conduct after a UK tribunal judgment reportedly dismissed his testimony as “an invention and contrivance.”
Background
The London case, filed as REF/2023/0155, arose from competing ownership claims over a property located at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX between Ozekhome and a woman identified as Tali Shani. While the names in the property dispute are Ozekhome and Jeremiah Useni, a late retired lieutenant-general, Shani told the tribunal that she was the lawful owner.
Ozekhome maintained that he received the house as a gift from ‘Mr Tali Shani’ in 2021, and a witness known as ‘Tali Shani” testified in favour of Ozekhome, claiming that he had “Powers of Attorney” over the property and had transferred the property to Ozekhome.
The witness claimed ownership of the property from 1993, noting that he later appointed Useni as his property manager, describing Useni as an “elder friend and business partner”.
It was this testimony and the documents accompanying it that allegedly drew the attention of Nigerian authorities.
In the criminal charge now before the Abuja court, the Federal Government accuses Ozekhome of knowingly making and using a false Nigerian passport bearing the name Shani Tali to strengthen ownership claims over the London property.
The prosecution listed investigators and a representative of the Nigerian Immigration Service among its witnesses, indicating that official passport records and identity data will be central to the case.
Documents to be tendered include the judgment of the UK tribunal, extra-judicial statements, official correspondence and passport records relating to Shani Tali.
A publication by a legal scholar and former National Human Rights Commission chairman, Chidi Odinkalu, in October 2025 disclosed that Ozekhome was prevailed upon to withdraw from the September 2025 Call to Bar ceremony in Abuja because of the case.
Odinkalu wrote that members of the Body of Benchers (BoB) objected to Ozekhome’s participation following the UK tribunal decision, arguing that his continued role in formally admitting new lawyers into the profession raised serious ethical concerns.
Body of Benchers is not only responsible for the Call to Bar but also houses the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), the statutory body charged with disciplining erring lawyers.
Odinkalu argued that the episode reflected what he described as a deepening crisis of accountability in Nigeria’s legal profession, where senior lawyers often face little or no professional consequence despite damaging judicial findings.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.