The Principal Staff Officer to the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Aridegbe Akim, today told the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the ongoing trial of constitutional lawyer, Professor Mike Ozekhome and one other that the passport with the name Tali Shani was fake as the NIS did not issue it.

Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni were dragged before Justice Chizoba Oji, sitting at Maitama, Abuja by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation on a 12-count charge bordering on forgery.

They were, among others, accused of making a false Nigerian international passport No. A07535463 with the name Tali Shani, and purported same to have been issued by the NIS with the intent of using same to support claim of ownership to a property known as No. 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2.

The offence, according to prosecution, is contrary to Section 363 of the Penal Code Act CAP 532 Laws of the FCT 2006 and punishable under section 364 of the same Act.

At the commencement of trial today, the first prosecution witness, Aridegbe Akim, told the court that the purported passport issued to Tali Shani with the number was fake as it was not in the NIS database.

According to him, “The Nigerian passport A07535463 was not issued by the Nigerian Immigration Service, it is not in our database. The passport belonging to Tali Shani is fake.”

Led in his evidence-in-chief by the Director, Public Prosecution of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, Akim told the court that the Immigration Service received letters from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to authenticate the passports of Ponfa Useni and Tali Shani.

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He informed that based on EFCC’s request, the Service checked its database and discovered that the passport bearing Tali Shani was not issued by the NIS, while the other belonging to Ponfa Useni was issued by the NIS.

He said upon this discovery, the Immigration forwarded its finding to EFCC.

​The senior prosecuting counsel, therefore, tendered the EFCC’s letter to the NIS to authenticate the passports and the Immigration’s response to the anti-corruption commission as evidence.

Counsel for Ozekhome, Tayo Oyetibo SAN and that of Useni, F.R. Onoja SAN, did not object to admissibility of the letters. They were subsequently admitted by the court and marked as exhibits.

When asked by the prosecutor to explain the procedure for issuance of Nigerian passport to the court, Akim said after an online payment had been made by an applicant, the NIS database would generate the record and the breeder documents would then be generated and inputted into the system, alongside the National Identification Number (NIN).

This, according to the PW1, would then generate the data for the applicant.

The prosecution witness further told the court that Nigerian passports were now encrypted into the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), adding that this made it easier for international borders to access biometric data.

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“Any passport the NIS produces goes through a systematic process before its final production. But such was not the case with Tali Shani,”Akim told the court.

He added that the NIS system works in such a way that once a name inserted, it brings out the particulars and history of that person.

He told the court that, “On inserting this Tali Shani in the NIS system, no record was found,” adding that the NIS did not have any record of sales in respect of this particular Tali Shani passport.

The PW1 told the court that EFCC later sent a letter NIS to release Abdulkadir Lawal for interview, adding that the Immigration did not find such person on its nominal roll after checking legal unit.

He added that the NIS extended its search of the said Abdulkadir Lawal to IPPIS to be sure of its discovery and no such name existed.

He said that, “Of the service, no name of such exists. We then communicated our findings to the EFCC.”

​Also, the witness said EFCC requested the authentication of a letter the said Abdulkadir Lawal wrote, which prompted the Comptroller General of NIS to direct that a team be set up on the EFCC’s request.

Akim told the court that the team was eventually set up and was the head of the team, adding the team discovered that the said Abdulkadir Lawal never represented the NIS.

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“The letter written by the same Abdulkadir Lawal never represented the NIS. This means the letter is fake,” the PW1 told the court.

Again, the prosecutor tendered the correspondences between EFCC NIS in evidence through the witness but both Oyetibo and Onoja reserved their objection to the admissibility of the documents to the final address.

The documents were admitted and marked as exhibits by the court.

While being cross examined by the counsel for Ozekhome, Oyetibo SAN, the witness informed the court that he became a principal staff officer in December 2023 and had prior to that time, been on out-post duty outside Nigeria.

He informed the court that Nigeria was fully admitted into PKG and PKI and an ICAO upgrade in 2025.

Following a request for an adjournment by Oyetibo, Justice Oji adjourned the case to April 15 for continuation of cross-examination of PW1.
(TRIBUNE)