BY ANTHONY OCHELA, ABUJA
Prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and Ponfa Useni said yesterday that the defendants allegedly presented fake Nigerian international passports before a London tribunal in their effort to claim a property linked to the late Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, General Jeremiah Useni.
Ozekhome and Useni are being prosecuted before the High Court of the FCT by the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, on a 12-count charge.
The defendants are, among others, accused of forging documents, including an international passport and an irrevocable power of attorney and engaging in impersonation to lay claim to a property in London allegedly acquired unlawfully by the late Useni.
The witness, Aridegbe Akeem, who said he is a Principal Staff Officer to the Controller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, featured as the first prosecution witness during yesterday’s hearing.
Led in evidence by the prosecuting lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Akeem said the passport bearing the name, Tali Shani, and marked: A07535463, was not issued by the NIS, adding “it is not in our database, the passport belonging to Tali Shani is fake.”
Akeem said NIS received letters from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, requesting it to authenticate the passports of Ponfa Useni and Tali Shani.
He said after checking the NIS database, it was discovered that one of the passports was not issued by the NIS, while the other, belonging to one Useni, was issued by the Service.
The witness said the findings were subsequently forwarded to the EFCC.
When asked to explain the procedure for the issuance of a Nigerian international passport, Akeem added that after an applicant makes an online payment for the passport, the database generates the record, following which the breeder documents are then generated and input into the system, alongside the National Identification Number, NIN.
“This then generates the data for every applicant for a passport,” he said, adding that Nigerian passports are now encrypted into the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, which makes it easier for international borders to access biometric data.
The witness added, “Therefore, any passport that NIS produces goes through a systematic process before its final production. But such was not the case with Shani. On inserting the name, no record was found”.
The witness said the NIS system works in such a way that “once you insert a name, it brings out the particulars and history of that person. But, on inserting this Shani, no record was found.”
Akeem also said that NIS does not have any record of sales in respect to the passport in question.
He said the EFCC, in the course of its investigation, sent a letter to the NIS, requesting to interview Abdulkadir Lawal.
He added that after checking its Legal Unit and nominal roll, it was found that the name does not exist.
“We then communicated our findings to the EFCC. The NIS extended their search to IPPIS to be sure of their discovery and thus, no name like that existed.
“Also, EFCC requested the authentication of a letter Lawal wrote,” Akeem said.
The witness said he headed the team set up on the instruction of the comptroller-general of the NIS to address the many requests by the EFCC in respect of the passport.
Akeem, who insisted that Lawal never represented the NIS, said it was discovered that the letter written by the same Lawal never represented the NIS, which implies that it is fake.
The prosecution tendered through the witness, a number of documents including the letters from the EFCC to NIS, NIS responses and copies of genuine and fake passports.
Under cross examination by lawyer to Ozekhome, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), the witness said he became a Principal Staff Officer in December 2023, but was on out-post duty outside Nigeria prior to July 2023.
He said Nigeria was in 2025 fully admitted into PKG and PKI, which are ICAO upgrades.
Akim recalled that the first letter NIS received from the EFCC was the one referring to Lawal.
At that point, Oyetibo requested for an adjournment till a later date, a request that Oyedepo did not oppose, following which Justice Chizoba Oji adjourned till April 15 for continuation of trial.
