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A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court in Maitama has struck out a suit filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) against Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
On January 16, the ICPC filed a three-count charge bordering on forgery allegations, against Ozekhome.
The office of the attorney-general of the federation had taken over the case on January 26.
Rotimi Oyedepo, counsel to the AGF, had on the last adjourned date, said the case will be prosecuted with “the highest standard of efficiency, effectiveness, diligence and compliance with due process of law”.
However, at the resumed court session on Tuesday, which was scheduled for arraignment of Ozekhome, Oyedepo moved an application to withdraw the case.
He said the office of the AGF would need time to review and consolidate the issues which cuts across different investigating agencies.
Oyedepo added that this would help strengthen the case.
Consequently, Peter Kekemeke, presiding judge, struck out the case.
Ozekhome was 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 court.
BACKGROUND
Named in the property dispute are Ozekhome and Jeremiah Useni, a retired lieutenant-general who is now deceased.
It was filed at the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Land Registration, UK, under case number REF/2023/0155, with Tali Shani as the applicant and Ozekhome as the respondent.
The property had been claimed by one ‘Ms Tali Shani’ on one hand and Ozekhome on the other.
Ozekhome said he received the house as a gift from ‘Mr Tali Shani’ in 2021, while lawyers for ‘Ms Shani’ insisted she was the rightful owner.
A witness known as ‘Mr Tali Shani had testified in favour of Ozekhome, claiming that he had “Powers of Attorney” over the property and had transferred the property to the respondent (Ozekhome).
Mr Tali Shani asserted ownership of the property from 1993 and claimed he later appointed Useni as his property manager, describing Useni as an “elder friend and business partner”.
On the other hand, several documents, including an obituary announcement, NIN card, ECOWAS passport, phone number, etc were tendered by witnesses of Ms Tali Shani to claim ownership of the property.
However, the tribunal found all the documents tendered for Ms Tali Shani to be fake.
The tribunal subsequently dismissed all claims, ruling that neither “Mr” nor “Ms” Tali Shani existed.
The court ruled that the real owner, via a false name, was Useni.
