A prosecution witness has told a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that a Nigerian international passport allegedly used in a London property claim involving senior lawyer Mike Agbedor Abu Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni was fake and not issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
The two defendants are being prosecuted by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation on a 12-count charge bordering on alleged forgery, impersonation and the use of falsified documents to claim ownership of a property in London said to be linked to the late former FCT Minister, Jeremiah Useni.
Testifying during Friday’s hearing, Aridegbe Akeem, a Principal Staff Officer to the Comptroller-General of the NIS, said the passport bearing the name Tali Shani with number A07535463 was not issued by the immigration service.
Led in evidence by prosecuting counsel Rotimi Oyedepo, Akeem told the court that a search conducted on the NIS database showed no record of the passport.
“The passport bearing the name Tali Shani is not in our database. The passport belonging to Tali Shani is fake,” the witness said.
According to him, the NIS received letters from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) requesting authentication of two passports belonging to Ponfa Useni and Tali Shani.
He explained that while the passport belonging to Useni was confirmed as genuine, the one issued in the name of Tali Shani had no record in the NIS system.
Akeem further told the court that the findings were communicated to the EFCC after the verification process.
Explaining the standard procedure for issuing Nigerian international passports, the witness said applicants must first make an online payment, after which the system generates records linked to the applicant’s documents, including the National Identification Number (NIN).
He added that Nigerian passports are encrypted into the database of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), enabling border authorities worldwide to access biometric data.
“Any passport issued by the NIS goes through a systematic process before final production. But such was not the case with Tali Shani. When the name was inserted into the system, no record was found,” Akeem said.
The witness also told the court that the NIS had no record of any officer named Abdulkadir Lawal, who allegedly wrote a letter connected to the passport verification.
He said searches conducted within the NIS Legal Unit, nominal roll and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) revealed that no such officer exists in the service.
“We discovered that the letter written by Abdulkadir Lawal did not emanate from the NIS, implying that the letter is fake,” Akeem stated.
During the proceedings, the prosecution tendered several documents through the witness, including EFCC correspondence to the NIS, the agency’s responses and copies of both the genuine and disputed passports.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Tayo Oyetibo, the witness said he became a Principal Staff Officer in December 2023 and had previously been on out-post duty outside Nigeria before July of that year.
Following arguments by counsel, Justice Chizoba Oji adjourned the case until April 15 for continuation of trial.
