Collage of  and late Useni and Mike Ozekhome

A London tribunal has blocked an audacious move by prominent Nigerian lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), to take ownership of a house in North London, exposing a labyrinth of forged documents, phantom identities and decades-old secrets linking the late Lt-Gen. Jeremiah “Jerry” Useni to the property.

Delivering judgment on 11 September 2025, Judge Ewan Paton of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) ruled that neither Mr Ozekhome nor the supposed woman named Ms Tali Shani had any legal claim to the property at 79 Randall Avenue, Neasden, London NW2.

Four Years of Legal Drama

In August 2021, Mr Ozekhome applied to transfer the property into his name, claiming it was a gift from a man who presented himself as Mr Tali Shani in appreciation for legal services. But the application was challenged in September 2022 by Westfields Solicitors on behalf of “Ms Tali Shani,” who insisted she had owned the property since 1993 and was “outraged” at the attempted transfer.

At the centre of the dispute was the late General Jerry Useni, former Nigerian Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under Sani Abacha. The tribunal concluded that Mr Useni secretly bought the house in 1993 using a fictitious name.

Forgery, Phantom Identities and Contradictions

The case revealed a tangle of forged documents, including identity cards, utility bills and a falsified National Identification Number. Witnesses claiming to be Ms Shani’s relatives gave inconsistent testimonies. One said she died in a car crash; another said she died in a Lagos hospital. An obituary even cited a non-existent date — “Sunday, 30 November 2024.”

Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission and police officials testified that documents presented on Ms Shani’s behalf were fraudulent, including a remotely created NIN slip from Monaco that bypassed fingerprint rules. The tribunal ultimately declared: “Ms Shani never existed.”

Ozekhome’s Case Collapses

Mr Ozekhome told the tribunal he was introduced to Mr Shani in 2019 and had provided legal services, after which the property was allegedly gifted to him. But the tribunal rejected this as a “contrived story” with no credible link to the 1993 purchase. Judge Paton ruled that “Mr. Tali Shani did not purchase this property himself in 1993, and so had no title of his own to pass.”

The Real Owner Revealed

Judge Paton concluded that the late General Jerry Useni was the genuine purchaser of the property, even though he used false identities to conceal ownership. Useni, who died in France in January 2025, was a powerful member of the Abacha government and once tipped to become Nigeria’s head of state.