The Nigeria Immigration Service has told a court in Abuja that a Nigerian passport presented in a London property dispute linked to the late Jeremiah Useni is not in its records.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that this was disclosed during the resumed hearing in the trial of Mike Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
The case centres on claims of forgery, impersonation, and the use of false documents to claim ownership of a property in London, said to be connected to the late Useni.
Aridegbe Akim, who works with the immigration service and appeared as the first prosecution witness, told the court that the passport bearing number A07535463, said to belong to one Tali Shani, could not be found in the agency’s database.
He explained that the system keeps detailed electronic records of all passports issued and can produce a person’s full details once a name is entered, but no information appeared for the name linked to the document.
During questioning by defence lawyers, the witness said Nigerian passports are machine-readable and carry unique numbers assigned during production. He added that the process of obtaining a passport involves payment, submission of documents, enrolment and final issuance, all of which are captured in the system. According to him, none of these steps were traced for the passport in question.
He also agreed that the passport presented looked similar to genuine ones issued by the service, but insisted that every valid passport must have a traceable record in the database.
After the cross-examination, the prosecuting counsel requested time to present another witness, a move that was not opposed by the defence. The trial judge, Justice Chizoba Oji, then fixed May 18 for the continuation of the hearing.
The case was filed by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, accusing the defendants of forging an international passport and an irrevocable power of attorney, as well as impersonating a fictitious person to support a claim over a property located at 79 Randall Avenue in London.
The prosecution also alleged that the property may have been acquired through unlawful means tied to the late former minister.