By Laraba MUREY with Agency
These are not the best of times for Mike Ozekhome, SAN, as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has filed criminal charges against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations of receiving property through corrupt means and using forged documents.
The charges, filed on January 16 by Ngozi Onwuka of the ICPC’s High Profile Prosecution Department, follow a damning September 2025 judgment by a London property tribunal that linked the 68-year-old lawyer to “fraud and forged” documents in a dispute over a North London house.
Court documents show that Ozekhome faces three criminal counts, Premium Times reports.
The first count alleges that sometime in August 2021, he directly received House 79 Randall Avenue, London, purportedly given to him by one Shani Tali in a transaction the ICPC says constitutes a felony under the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The second count accuses the senior lawyer of “making a false document,” a Nigerian passport bearing number A07535463 in the name of Mr Shani Tali, with the intent to support a claim of ownership of the London property.
This charge is filed under the Penal Code of the Federal Capital Territory.
In the third count, Mr Ozekhome is accused of “dishonestly” using the allegedly false passport as genuine to support the property ownership claim when he had reason to believe the document was false.
Trouble came calling for the embattled silk when Judge Ewan Paton of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) delivered a judgment on 11 September 2025 blocking Ozekhome from seizing the house in North London.
The tribunal held that the case was built on a network of fraud, impersonation, and forged documents, concluding that the late Jeremiah Useni, former Minister of FCT, was the genuine purchaser of the property in 1993.
In August 2021, Ozekhome applied through the Tribunal to transfer the property at 79 Randall Avenue into his name, claiming it was a gift from a man who presented himself as Tali Shani in appreciation for legal services.
However, the application was challenged in September 2022 by Westfields Solicitors, claiming to represent “Ms Tali Shani,” who insisted she was the registered owner of the property since 1993 and had never signed any transfer.
The London tribunal uncovered fraudulent Nigerian identity records, including a passport, a National Identification Number, NIN, and a Tax Identification Number, TIN, allegedly generated with the connivance of corrupt officials at the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, the Immigration Service, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
NIMC admitted in evidence that the NIN assigned to “Ms Tali Shani” was fraudulently created remotely from Monaco, using a forged photograph and bypassing biometric requirements.
The Nigeria Police Force also confirmed that the address used to back up the fraudulent phone bill was fictitious.
Judge Paton concluded that the supposed Ms Shani “was never a real living person” and that her documents were deliberately fabricated with the connivance of corrupt Nigerian officials.
ICPC investigation was triggered by a petition from Olanrewaju Suraj, head of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA.
The petition accused Ozekhome, his son, Osilama, and several collaborators of conspiring with corrupt Nigerian officials to procure fake national identity documents in a bid to fraudulently claim ownership of the North London house.
The ICPC summoned individuals named in the UK judgment to appear before the commission for questioning.
Ozekhome appeared before the commission on 12 January to give a written statement.
In his statement at the ICPC, Ozekhome said he was aware of the judgment granted by the First Tier Tribunal in the UK.
“It was prompted by an objection to my application for the transfer of a property situated at 79 Randall Avenue, London, to me, which was filed by myself and Mr Shani Tali before the H.M. Lands Registry UK. I have seen the judgement now shown to me (albeit an uncertified copy),” he stated.
“This fact about my title to the property, how I came about it, and all have been exhaustively written down and explained to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and I have no further explanation to the same, all issues having been under investigation by the Commission for many months now.”
Ozekhome further said the ownership had been with him since 2021, adding that everything concerning Mr Tali Shani and himself, as regards evidence, could be found in the judgment.
Before his death, Gen. Useni appeared before the court through a video link in 2024. Contrary to Ozekhome’s defence, Useni told the court plainly: “I owned it. I bought the property. It is my property.”
The court found that Mr Ozekhome’s defence, supported by his son, amounted to a “contrived story… invented in an attempt to provide a plausible reason” for the 2021 transfer.
At the Federal High Court, the ICPC listed six witnesses, including its investigators, Joshua Wakili, Tosin Olayiwola, Ebenezer Nduo, and Blessing Monopo.
It also listed a representative of the Nigeria Immigration Service, and any other vital witness by way of subpoena or filing an additional list of witnesses.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, had confirmed that his office had launched a review of the case. Mr Fagbemi described the London judgment as a matter that “bears sadly on the integrity of the Nigerian legal profession.”
The NBA’s Anti-Corruption Committee, chaired by Babafemi Badejo, welcomed the AGF’s intervention in a statement last October.
It urged a full investigation into the alleged forgery of passports, NINs, and utility documents linked to the London case and demanded accountability for civil servants and lawyers involved.
