Alleged passport in name of "Tali Shani" is fraudulent, not genuine document from NIS, claims EFCC testimony

A prosecution witness, Mr Aridegbe Akim, testified before an Abuja high court on Friday, stating that a passport bearing the name of “Tali Shani” was not issued by the Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS), according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness.

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This revelation came during the opening of the trial of Mike Ozekhome SAN and Ponfa Useni, who are facing a 12-count charge bordering on forgery, brought by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF).

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The prosecution alleged that Ozekhome and Useni forged documents, including an international passport and an irrevocable power of attorney, to lay claim to a property in London allegedly procured unlawfully by the late General Jeremiah Useni.

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Ozekhome and the co-defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge, setting the stage for the trial to proceed.

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At the resumed hearing, prosecution counsel Rotimi Oyedepo SAN called the first witness, PW1, who is a principal staff member to the Comptroller General of NIS, and through the witness, several documents were tendered by the prosecution.

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These documents ranged from EFCC letters to NIS and NIS’s responses to EFCC, in addition to genuine and fake passports, which were all admitted as exhibits by the trial judge, Justice Chizoba Oji.

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Tayo Oyetibo SAN, counsel for Ozekhome, and F. R. Onoja SAN, for Useni, did not object to the documents but reserved their comments for the final written address.

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Led in evidence by Oyedepo, the witness said the Nigerian passport, A07535463, “was not issued by the NIS, it is not in our database; the passport belonging to Tali Shani is fake.”

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Akim told the court that the NIS received letters from the EFCC to authenticate the passports of Useni and Tali Shani, and after checking the Immigration’s database, officers discovered that one of the passports was not issued by the NIS.

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The other passport, belonging to one Useni, was issued by the NIS, and this finding was forwarded to the EFCC, according to Akim.

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The witness explained the procedure and application for the issuance of the passport to the court, noting that after an online payment for the passport, the database generates the record, and the breeder documents are then generated and input into the system, alongside the National Identification Number (NIN).

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This process generates the data for every applicant for a passport, and Nigerian passports are now encrypted into the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), making it easier for international borders to access biometric data.

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Akim noted that any passport the NIS produces goes through a systematic process before its final production, but such was not the case with Tali Shani, as “On typing in Tali Shani’s name, no record was found.”

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The NIS system works in such a way that once you type a name, it brings out the particulars and history of that person, according to Akim.

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The witness told the court that the NIS received a letter from the EFCC to interview Abdulkadir Lawal, but after checking the services’ legal unit and nominal roll, no one with that name exists.

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The NIS then communicated their findings to the EFCC and extended the search to IPPIS to be sure of their discovery, only to find that “no one like that exists.”

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During cross-examination by Oyetibo, the witness informed the court that he became a principal staff officer in December 2023 but was on outpost duty outside Nigeria prior to July 2023.

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Akim also informed the court that Nigeria was fully admitted into PKG and PKI, which are ICAO upgrades in 2025, and recalled that the first letter NIS received from the EFCC was one referring to Abdulkadir Lawal.

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Oyetibo then requested an adjournment, which was granted by Justice Oji, who adjourned the matter until April 15 for continuation of cross-examination.