Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, has lost his claim to a disputed property in London after a UK tribunal ruled that the case was built on forged documents, fake identities and a fabricated ownership trail.
The controversy surrounds a semi-detached house located at 79 Randall Avenue, Neasden, London. Ozekhome had, in August 2021, applied to the UK Land Registry to have the property transferred to his name, claiming it was a gift from one Tali Shani in appreciation of legal services he rendered.
However, during hearings before the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), investigators uncovered a web of inconsistencies. Documents presented in the name of Ms Shani, including a Nigerian National Identification Number (NIN) slip and other identity records, were declared fraudulent. Officials of Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) testified that the NIN was improperly generated using loopholes meant for amputees to bypass fingerprinting and contained irregular photographs uploaded from outside Nigeria.
The tribunal also reviewed death certificates, utility bills and land records linked to the disputed property. Many of the documents were found to be falsified, with conflicting claims made about whether Ms Shani was alive or deceased. In his judgment, Judge Ewan Paton concluded that Ms Shani likely never existed and was a fictitious creation designed to mask the true ownership of the property.
The tribunal further held that the explanation offered by Ozekhome and his son regarding the 2021 transfer was a “contrived story, invented to provide a plausible reason” for the attempted registration. The judge dismissed the lawyer’s application in its entirety.
According to the ruling delivered on September 11, 2025, the property in question was originally acquired in 1993 by the late General Jeremiah Useni, though under a false identity. The court determined that Useni remained the true owner until his death, while attempts by Ozekhome and the purported Ms Shani to claim the property were fraudulent.
“The case is built on a network of fraud, impersonation and forged documents,” Judge Paton stated in the decision.
Neither Ozekhome nor his legal team has issued a formal reaction to the judgment, which has sparked widespread debate in Nigeria and the United Kingdom over how one of the country’s most prominent lawyers became embroiled in such a controversial property dispute.
