|By Adejumo Adekunle
The Federal Government has moved to prosecute prominent constitutional lawyer and human rights advocate, Professor Mike Ozekhome, SAN, over allegations of forgery and the use of false documents linked to a disputed property in the United Kingdom.
The move followed the filing of a three-count criminal charge against the senior advocate at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The charge, marked FCT/HC/CR/010/2026, was instituted on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice by officials of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
According to court documents, Ozekhome is accused of knowingly presenting forged documents, including a Nigerian international passport, to advance a claim of ownership over a property located at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX, during proceedings before the London First-Tier Tribunal.
The alleged offences were said to have occurred in August 2021, partly in London and partly in Maitama, Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the FCT High Court.
In the first count, the federal government alleged that Ozekhome directly received the London property from one Shani Tali, knowing that the act constituted a felony, an offence said to be contrary to Sections 13 and 24 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The second count accused the senior lawyer of making a false document—specifically a Nigerian passport bearing the name of Shani Tali—with the intent to use it to support his ownership claim over the London property. Prosecutors said the act amounted to forgery under the Penal Code applicable in the FCT.
In the third count, Ozekhome was accused of dishonestly using the said passport as genuine, despite allegedly knowing it to be false, in an attempt to deceive a public authority during the property dispute proceedings.
To prove its case, the federal government listed several witnesses, including ICPC investigators and a representative of the Nigerian Immigration Service, who are expected to testify on passport records and related findings. Prosecutors also plan to tender documentary exhibits, including the judgment of the London First-Tier Tribunal, extra-judicial statements, official correspondence, and immigration passport data linked to Shani Tali.
As of the time of filing, the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Yusuf Baba Hussain, had yet to assign the matter to a trial judge or fix a date for the arraignment of the senior advocate.
