{"id":128072,"date":"2026-07-02T21:31:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=128072"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:31:22","slug":"court-approves-ozekhomes-uk-medical-trip-orders-passport-returned-august-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/court-approves-ozekhomes-uk-medical-trip-orders-passport-returned-august-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Court approves Ozekhome&#8217;s UK medical trip, orders passport returned August 26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>By John Azu<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted senior lawyer Mike Ozekhome permission to temporarily retrieve his international passport to enable him travel to the United Kingdom for medical treatment while standing trial over alleged document falsification linked to a disputed London property.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Justice Chizoma Oji, in a ruling delivered on Thursday, ordered that the passport be released to Ozekhome for travel between July 9 and August 20, with a directive that it must be returned to the court on or before August 26.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>&#8220;Having considered the motion and noting that there is no objection, I hereby grant the request for the temporary release of the first defendant&#8217;s international passport to enable him embark on his medical trip,&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0the judge ruled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The court&#8217;s decision followed a motion by Ozekhome seeking the temporary release of the travel document. Although counsel to the prosecution, C.L. Asonta, did not oppose the application, he urged the court to direct the defendant to return the passport within three working days of his return to Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Justice Oji subsequently adjourned the matter until September 28 for continuation of trial.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the previous hearing, the court was informed that Ozekhome and his co-defendant had not deposited their international passports as required under the bail conditions granted in February. The judge consequently directed that the passports be produced before the court on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice had in February filed a fresh 12-count charge against Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni after withdrawing an earlier charge bordering on the alleged falsification of documents to lay claim to a property located at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2, United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the charge before the Federal High Court, Ozekhome, Ponfa Useni (also known as Tali Shani) and the late General Jeremiah Useni allegedly conspired between 2020, 2023 and 2025 to create a false Nigerian international passport bearing No. A07535463 in the name of Tali Shani, purportedly issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service, with the intention of using it to claim ownership of the London property.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Federal Government further alleged that the defendants falsely personated Tali Shani, described as a fictitious person, and used the assumed identity to execute a Power of Attorney dated May 30, 2020, through which they sought to establish ownership of the property.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ozekhome is also accused of having control, sometime in 2022 in Abuja, of \u00a318,000 being rental income from the property at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2, which prosecutors alleged was reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully acquired by the late General Jeremiah Useni through the fictitious identity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prosecution further alleged that the defendants prepared a false document titled\u00a0<em>&#8220;Re: Request for Authentication of Nigerian Passport No. A07535463 belonging to Mr Tali Shani&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0dated May 4, 2023, purportedly issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service, to support their claim to the London property.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The offences are said to contravene Sections 83, 84, 96, 321, 363, 366 and 179 of the Penal Code Law, 2009, and are punishable under Section 364 of the same law.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, Ozekhome was recently sanctioned by the Legal Practitioners&#8217; Privileges Committee (LPPC), which suspended his rank as Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) over his alleged involvement in the matter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a statement issued on June 24, the Registrar of the Supreme Court and Secretary of the LPPC, Kabir Akanbi, said the decision followed the committee&#8217;s 173rd General Meeting held on June 23.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to him, the suspension was imposed pursuant to Paragraph 26(6) of the Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and All Matters Pertaining to the Rank, pending the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings before the LPPC&#8217;s Disciplinary and Ethics Sub-Committee and other related proceedings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He explained that the measure was aimed at preserving the integrity and prestige of the SAN rank while the allegations against Ozekhome are being determined.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement added:\u00a0<strong>&#8220;Accordingly, Chief Mike Ozekhome, shall refrain from parading himself, presenting himself, or otherwise holding himself out as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria pending the final determination of the disciplinary proceedings.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>&#8220;The LPPC remains committed to upholding the highest standards of professional ethics, integrity, and discipline within the legal profession and to ensuring that the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria continues to command public confidence and respect.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By John Azu A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted senior lawyer Mike Ozekhome permission to temporarily retrieve his international passport to enable him travel to the United Kingdom&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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