The FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, gave senior lawyer Mike Ozekhome the green light to go for a medical trip to the UK for six weeks on Thursday.
Trial judge Chizoba Oji ordered that Mr Ozekhome must return his passport to the court by 26 August 2026.
The judge also pushed Mr Ozekhome’s forgery and impersonation trial to 28 September.
On 27 February, the AGF's office charged Mr Ozekhome and his co-defendant, Ponfa Useni, with 12 counts of forgery and impersonation. This was related to a messy fight over property ownership in the UK.
The judge granted bail to both men for N10 million each, with one surety each. The judge also told them to submit their international passports to the court.
On Tuesday, the judge learned that the prosecution had not deposited the defendants' passports as part of the bail conditions. This made the judge order the prosecution to bring the passports to court on Thursday.
The prosecution followed the judge's order and presented the defendants' passports. After the defendants confirmed that the passports were theirs, the judge asked the prosecution lawyer, C.L. Asonta, if there was any objection.
Ms Asonta answered that there was no objection but requested that Mr Ozekhome return his passport “within three working days upon his return.”
The judge then said, “Having considered the motion and no objection, I hereby grant the request and temporary release of the first defendant’s international passport to enable him to go for his medical trip.”
Mr Ozekhome’s six-week trip will start from 9 July and end on 20 August. The judge also adjourned the matter until 28 September.
Mr Ozekhome and Mr Useni are facing 12 counts of impersonation and forgery.
Mr Useni is the son of the late Jeremiah Useni, who was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory during Sani Abacha's military rule.
The late Mr Useni, who passed away in January 2025, owned the London property in question under the name Tali Shani. His alleged attempt to transfer ownership to Mr Ozekhome led to the presentation of forged documents in a London property tribunal.
In the eight charges about the property battle, Nigerian authorities accused Mr Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni of conspiring in 2020 with the late Jeremiah Useni to create a fake Nigerian passport with number A07535463 and name Tali Shani. They reportedly used the forged passport to claim a property in the UK.
The prosecution also accused them of “using a false passport to facilitate the claim of the property.”
They alleged that Mr Ozekhome helped Ponfa Useni impersonate Tali Shani in 2020. The prosecution said they made a fake “Irrevocable Power of Attorney” to help Mr Ozekhome claim the property.
Both men denied all the charges.
Mr Ozekhome’s case in Nigeria comes from a London tribunal's ruling that stopped him from claiming a property in North London in September 2025.
In August 2021, Mr Ozekhome tried to transfer the property to his name, claiming it was a gift from a man who called himself Tali Shani in return for legal services.
But this was challenged in September 2022 by Westfields Solicitors, who claimed to represent “Ms Tali Shani.” They insisted she was the registered owner of the property since 1993 and had never signed any transfer.
Judge Paton of the UK Tribunal ruled that the house was secretly bought in 1993 by the late Mr Useni using a false identity.
The tribunal found Mr Ozekhome’s efforts to claim the property were based on fraud, impersonation, and forged documents. It concluded that the late Mr Useni was the genuine buyer of the property in 1993.
The tribunal also found fake Nigerian identity records, including a passport, a National Identification Number (NIN), and a Tax Identification Number (TIN). These were allegedly created with the help of corrupt officials at the National Identity Management Commission, the Immigration Service, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
These issues led the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee to suspend Mr Ozekhome’s SAN rank until a disciplinary hearing is over.
So far, two prosecution witnesses have testified in the trial at the FCT High Court.
In March, the first witness, a Nigerian Immigration Service officer, said the passport with the name Tali Shani was fake.
Akim Aridegbe, an officer to the Comptroller-General of the NIS, said the passport was not issued by the NIS. He stated that although the passport looked real, it had no record in the NIS database.
The second witness, Bamaiyi Mairiga, a forensic examiner, also said the passport was fake.
On Monday, Mr Ozekhome’s lawyer questioned Mr Mairiga during cross-examination and got answers about the procedures and principles he used in his investigation into the forgery claims.
The witness confirmed that his examination showed the Tali Shani passport was fake.
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