The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has opened an investigation into prominent Nigerian lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, following a damning judgment of a London property tribunal that linked him and others to a web of fraud and forged documents.
PREMIUM TIMES can report that the ICPC probe was triggered by a petition from Olanrewaju Suraj, head of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA).
|
|
The petition referenced the British court judgement and accused Mr Ozekhome, his son Osilama, and several others of conspiring with corrupt Nigerian officials to procure fake national identity documents in a bid to “fraudulently claim ownership” of a North London house.
“These findings reveal a grave conspiracy not only by senior and respected members of the Nigerian Bar but also by unknown Nigerian public officials who aided and abetted the fabrication of national documents, thereby undermining the integrity of Nigeria’s identification systems,” the petition reads.
|
|
|
|---|
“Such acts are squarely within the purview of the ICPC as they involve the abuse of public office, bribery, and corruption in the issuance of sensitive national identity instruments.”
The ICPC has now summoned individuals named in the UK judgment to appear before the commission for questioning, sources at the commission told this newspaper.
When contacted, Mr Ozekhome said he was not aware that the commission was investigating him.
Stay Ahead with Premium Times
Follow us on Google News and never miss breaking stories, investigations, and in-depth reporting.
Add as a preferred source on Google
Claims of “two owners’’
In his application at the UK tribunal, Mr Ozekhome relied on a man who presented himself as Tali Shani, a Nigerian businessman said to have owned the UK property since 1993.
The man produced a Nigerian passport, claimed to have bought the property at age 20 with money from family cattle businesses, and later transferred it to Mr Ozekhome out of gratitude for legal services.
In contrast, Ms Shani insisted she bought the house in her “hey days” and accused Mr Ozekhome of trying to seize it using impostors.
Ms Shani never appeared before the tribunal, despite multiple adjournments. In 2024, her lawyers filed medical letters claiming she was too ill to testify, and eventually reported that she had died in October 2024, attaching a death certificate from Nigeria.
Investigations later revealed that documents submitted by both Mr Ozekhome and Ms Shani — including identity cards, utility bills, and a National Identification Number — were forged.
The tribunal ruled that neither Mr Ozekhome nor the supposed woman named Ms Shani was the true owner of the property at 79 Randall Avenue.
The London judgment
On 11 September 2025, Judge Ewan Paton of the UK First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) struck out Mr Ozekhome’s application to be registered as the owner of 79 Randall Avenue, Neasden.
Concluding that the entire case was built on “forgery and deception,” the tribunal struck out the claims, describing them as an abuse of judicial process.
The tribunal held that the property, registered in 1993 under the name “Tali Shani,” was in fact secretly purchased by the late General Jeremiah Useni, a powerful ally of Sani Abacha and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The court ruled that the case before it was built on “a network of fraud, impersonation, and forged documents.” It found that Mr Ozekhome’s claim that the house was gifted to him in 2021 by one “Mr Shani” in gratitude for legal services worth N100 million was fabricated.
The judge described the lawyer’s defence, supported by his son, as “a contrived story… invented in an attempt to provide a plausible reason” for the transfer.
The tribunal also 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 Nigerian Police also confirmed that the address used to back up the fraudulent phone bill was fictitious.
On the other hand, 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.
“The entire case was built on forgery and deception,” the judge said, before ruling that the property remained part of Mr Useni’s estate, now subject to probate.
Jerry Useni’s Shadow
The tribunal ultimately traced the ownership of the London property back to the late Lieutenant General Jeremiah Useni, a powerful member of Mr Abacha’s regime.
Mr Useni, who died in January 2025 in France, admitted in testimony given via video link in 2024 that he purchased the house in 1993 but registered it in another name.
Documents before the tribunal confirmed that the acquisition was made under a false identity, “Philips Bincan,” a practice consistent with findings by the Royal Court of Jersey in a separate 2022 case that exposed Mr Useni’s use of coded names like “Tim Shani” to conceal wealth.
The tribunal therefore ruled that since “Mr Shani” had no legal title, he could not have transferred the property to Mr Ozekhome.
Ownership of the property, the judge said, now rests with whoever secures probate over Mr Useni’s English estate.
The petition to ICPC
In his petition, Mr Suraj urged the ICPC to prosecute Mr Ozekhome, his associates, and the unnamed Nigerian officials who allegedly facilitated the fake documents.
The group urged collaboration with UK authorities to retrieve evidence and for referral of the implicated lawyers to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).
“This case is emblematic of a wider malaise where corrupt officials and unscrupulous lawyers collude to manipulate public institutions, fabricate national documents, and perpetrate fraud both locally and internationally,” the petition reads.
AGF opens probe
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, on Monday confirmed that his office had also launched a review of the case.
Speaking at the opening of the Supreme Court’s 2025/2026 legal year in Abuja, Mr Fagbemi described the London judgment as a matter that “bears sadly on the integrity of the Nigerian legal profession.”
“It will be remiss of me not to bring such an egregious development to the attention of my lords, in the hope that it is addressed frontally,” the AGF said, while calling on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) to cooperate with his office.
READ ALSO: NBA anti-corruption committee backs AGF’s probe into UK messy property dispute involving Ozekhome
NBA backs AGF’s probe
The NBA’s Anti-Corruption Committee, chaired by Babafemi Badejo, welcomed the AGF’s intervention in a statement on Thursday.
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.
“Investigations should lead to the criminal prosecution of civil servants who connived with lawyers to tarnish the name of Nigeria,” the committee said.
It also warned that the matter must not be swept under the rug once media attention fades, stressing that “the credibility and sustainability of the legal sector in Nigeria are at stake.”
Discover more from Premium Times Nigeria
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
More News
