Five months after Justice Research Project (JRP) filed a petition before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for professional misconduct, the Federal Government at the weekend also filed a criminal charge against Chief Mike Agbedor Abu Ozekhome (SAN), over alleged forgery and use of false documents in a disputed property case in the United Kingdom.

The three-count charge marked FCT/HC/CR/010/2026 was filed before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday by Osuobeni Akponimisingha, head of High Profile Prosecution department at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and Ngozi Onwuka, Assistant Chief Legal Officer, on behalf of the Attorney-General of the federation(AGF).

Ozekhome is accused of knowingly presenting forged documents, including a Nigerian international passport, to support his claim of ownership of a property located at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX, during proceedings before the London First-Tier Tribunal.

The alleged offences were committed sometime in August 2021 in the Maitama area of the nation’s capital, within the jurisdiction of the FCT high court.

The charge sheet contains three counts, bordering on giving false information, use of forged documents, and attempting to deceive a public authority.

 

COUNT ONE: 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.

 

COUNT TWO: 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.

 

COUNT THREE: 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 federal government listed several witnesses it intends to call during the trial, including its investigators and a representative of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

Documents to be tendered as exhibits include the judgment of the London First-Tier Tribunal, extra-judicial statements, letters from relevant authorities, and passport data relating to Shani Tali.

The case is yet to be assigned a trial date.

On October 27, 2025, JRP represented by three lawyers, Charles Adeyemi Candide-Johnson SAN, Dr Babatunde Ajibade SAN, and Babajide Ogundipe filed a petition before the LPDC against Ozekhome and his son, Osilama Mike Ozekhome for professional misconduct.

The petition stated:

Based on the foregoing findings, the Applicants respectfully submit that Chief Ozekhome failed to act with dignity and uphold the integrity of the legal profession, thereby bringing the profession into disrepute. In particular terms, Chief Ozekhome breached the following provision of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2023 (the rules)

3.1.1 Rule 1. which provides that “a lawyer shall uphold and observe the rule of law, promote and foster the cause of justice, maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and shall not engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner

3.1.2.Chief Ozekhome failed to maintain a high standard of professional conduct and engages in conduct unbecoming of a legal practitioner when the  Tribunal found that the statement in Box 8 of the TRI(transfer) form to the effect that the transfer was not for money or anything of monetary value was made so the purported transfer would be free from stamp duty land tax – a dishonourable act of tax evasion, which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner.

3.1.3 Chief Ozekhome contravened rule 1 when he pursued false, fraudulent and unwarranted claims that lacked a genuine basis in law and fact. The Tribunal found it strange that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (equivalent of King’s Counsel) was incurious about the facts surrounding the ownership of the property and the unrealistic claims of ownership by Mr Tali Shani as put forward by both of them.

3.1.4 These claims were completely contradicted by General Useni, who was called as a witness by Chief Ozekhome when he testified that the property at 79 Randall Avenue belonged to him. This raised a strong presumption that General Useni’s purported written statements ( and by extension, those  of other witnesses for Chief Ozekhome) were false statements written and fabricated by Chief Ozekhome. This also begs the question of whether the person posing as Mr Tali Shani, tendered by Chief Ozekhome as his witness, was an impostor – another fake Tali Shani. This accounts for the reason for Mr Walsh’s professional embarrassment and the withdrawal of his representation for Chief Ozekhome( see paras 42-47 of the judgement). Despite these facts, Chief Ozekhome persisted in his pursuit of the concocted claims, thereby making it improbable that he was not the mastermind of the unlawful scheme/conduct, or at least, that he participated therein with full knowledge.

31.5 Additionally , Chief  Ozekhome was in further breach of rule 1 when the Tribunal found the evidence given by him and by his witnesses on the issue of consideration given for the transfer of the property to him was an “invention and contrivance”(see para. 206 of judgement). This is tantamount to a finding of the crime of perjury committed by them- a finding that debased not just Chief Ozekhome and the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria that he holds, but the Nigerian legal profession as a whole.

3.1.6Chief Ozekhome advanced a case which the Tribunal found to be false and in so doing, he attempted to mislead the Tribunal and subvert the cause of justice when he, as an officer of the law, is charged with the duty aiding the administration of justice. Contrary to Chief Ozekhome’s case,  The Tribunal found trial the property belonged to General Useni and that Mr. Tali Shani was ‘simply a vehicle or conduit by which General Useni tried to transfer to the Respondent a property previously registered by him in the    false name “Tali’ Shani” in 1993.” (See para. 207 of the Judgment). This amounts to the crime of impersonation, and it was dishonorable of Chief Ozekhome, an officer of the law, to have actively participated in this.

3.1.7. This unworthy conduct is particularly grave considering the rank of Chief Ozekhome as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. It is difficult to give Chief Ozekhome the benefit of the doubt by accepting that he was unaware of the scheme if one considers how passionately he advanced the claims of Mr Tali Shani, to the extent that the Tribunal was convinced that he wrote the witness statement of Mr Akeem Johnson, the contents of which peddled the same claims(see para 187, line 3 of the judgement).

Given the foreign nature of this scandal, it has had an immeasurably negative impact on the Nigerian legal profession, now painted in a bad light in its entirety on the global stage.

The applicant as a non-profit organization made up of Nigerians across the Legal profession, Civil Society, and the General Public who are stakeholders in the justice system and the 2th— 4th applicants are deeply concerned members of the Nigerian legal profession strongly believe that Chief Ozekhome’s conduct contravene the foregoing  provision of the’ Rules of Professional Conduct thereby amounting to professional misconduct in line with Rule 74( 1) of the Rules.

RELIEFS SOUGHT

The Applicants urge the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (the Committee) to invoke its powers under Section 11 of the Legal Practitioners Act 2004 to:

1. Investigate the conduct of the Respondent. Chief Mike Ozekhome. and

2. Impose the appropriate sanction if he is found guilty of infamous conduct.

CONCLUSION

5.1. It is the hope of the Applicants that the Committee would perform its statutory duty of maintaining discipline in the profession.

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