A UK property tribunal has handed down judgment dismissing competing claims over a London house in a case bordering on alleged fraud, forgery and false identities.

The suit was filed by “Ms. Tali Shani” against Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

The first-tier tribunal (Property Chamber), presided over by Ewan Paton, ruled that neither the applicant, “Ms Tali Shani”, nor the respondent, Ozekhome, could prove ownership of 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2.

Instead, the court concluded that the real owner was Jeremiah Useni, a retired lieutenant-general who served as minister of the federal capital territory (FCT) and governor of the now-defunct Bendel state in the 1980s and 1990s.

Useni, who died in France early this year, was a very influential member of the Sani Abacha government and was even in contention to be head of state following Abacha’s death in June 1998.

In the beginning

The case began with what appeared to be a routine application at the Land Registry in London in February 2023.

Ozekhome sought to register a transfer of the property executed in his favour in August 2021 by “Mr. Tali Shani.”

That transfer stated that it was “not for money or anything that has a monetary value.” He had claimed that the transfer of the property by Shani was a “gift,” and “out of gratitude,” for the “many legal services” he had rendered to him in the past.

But when solicitors representing “Ms. Tali Shani” lodged an objection, insisting she was the rightful registered proprietor and “outraged” at the purported transfer, the matter escalated.

Effectively, both “Mr.” Tali Shani and “Ms.” Tali Shani – one male, the other female – were claiming ownership of the same property.

What followed, the tribunal said, was “a quite extraordinary” series of hearings filled with mutual accusations of forgery, conspiracy, corruption, and impersonation.

Fake identities and web of lies

Central to the case was the identity of “Ms. Tali Shani” who never appeared before the tribunal, despite multiple adjournments.

In 2024, her lawyers said she was hospitalized and later produced documents claiming she had died in Nigeria.

The tribunal examined those documents closely: medical reports, a Nigerian national identity slip, a mobile phone bill, a death certificate, and even an obituary notice.

Anakwe Marcel Obasi had testified as a witness claiming to be a cousin of the applicant.

He claimed that “late cousin (Ms. Tali Shani) and the late General Jeremiah Useni had a very long affair; an affair that I believe lasted a decade” and “remained cordial and friendly” afterwards.

Obasi claimed that his cousin (Ms. Tali Shani) had told him that she once wanted to move to the UK but changed her mind, but then “gave money to the late General Useni to assist her in the purchase of a property in London where she was going to reside” in the “early 1990s”.

The witness admitted that he had not produced a single photograph of himself with his supposed cousin, Useni, the respondent, or even his purported nephew, Damola.

Photographer killed by bandits’

When pressed on this, he explained that he was “not a photogenic person” and that he “never found it necessary” to take such pictures.

Regarding the alleged funeral rites and burial of his cousin (Ms. Tali Shani), he said that there had been an official photographer present, but added a dramatic claim that the photographer was “killed by a bandit two days after the funeral.”

Ayodele Damola, who claimed to be the biological son of Ms Tali Shani, said his mother purchased the property in 1993. He also claimed that his mother was in a relationship with Useni in that period, and that “my mother, through General Useni, agreed to rent out the property rather than leaving the same fallow.”

Damola also alleged that the transfer of the property to Ozekhome was an attempt by Useni to repay “54 million Naira” which he had borrowed from the senior lawyer for an election campaign.

He told the tribunal that the general had first asked his mother to transfer the property to the respondent, but when she refused, they then persuaded a “poor innocent man” (presumably Mr. Tali Shani) to apply for a passport and pose as the owner.

A series of contradictions and discrepancies

While Obasi had claimed Ms. Tali Shani was terminally ill, resided in Lagos and barely had any mobility, Damola in an affidavit, said his mother died in a road accident along Jos-Abuja road.

The purported death certificate stated that she died in a “hospital,” while an affidavit sworn in Abuja on 7 October 2024 by her supposed son claimed that she had died “on 3rd October 2023 by accident along Jos Plateau State and Abuja way.”

Another contradiction was that on the obituary, a “thanksgiving service” was listed for Sunday, November 30, 2024, but that date did not match the calendar.

November 30, 2024 was actually a Saturday, with the Sunday falling on December 1. This mismatch was one of the factors that led the tribunal to dismiss the obituary as a forgery.

There were also discrepancies in Ms Tali Shani’s date of death presented by the witnesses.

Fake NIN, fake address

Festus Esangbedo, head of legal, regulatory and compliance services at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), testified that he investigated the National Identification Number (NIN) slip presented by “Tali Shani” was “fake, fraudulent and not authorized by the commission.”

His inquiry revealed that although a NIN had been issued on June 23, 2024, “the picture attached to the NIN has some distinct irregularities and does not comply with ICAO standards.” As a result, the NIN was suspended.

Further investigation, he said, confirmed it was obtained “by irregular means,” leading to its complete removal from the system.

Among the irregularities he highlighted were that the registration was done remotely in Monaco rather than in person, no fingerprints were captured because “the unknown agents who created this NIN had fraudulently made use of the ‘amputee’ provisions of the NIMC,” and the photograph used was non-compliant with international standards.

Another witness, Ibrahim Sini, a superintendent with the Force Intelligence Department, Nigeria police force, traced the mobile bill, supposedly in the name of Ms. Tali Shani, back to its real source.

Enquiries with the telecommunications company revealed that the account was actually registered to Mohammed Edewor, the Lagos solicitor connected with the applicant’s legal team.

State intelligence operatives in Jos were then dispatched to verify the address. They “went there physically,” Sini testified, and confirmed that “this address simply did not exist”.

Fake son, fake cousin

The judge concluded that all the evidence to prove Ms. Tali Shani’s identity were fraudulent.

“I do not accept that ‘she’ was ever a real living person. I do not accept that ‘she’ therefore died, whether in hospital or in a mysterious car accident on the road to Abuja. I certainly do not accept that ‘she’ purchased this property in London in 1993 in her ‘hey days’. Nor do I accept that Mr. Ayodele Damola is ‘her’ son, or that Mr. Anukwe Obasi is ‘her’ cousin,” the tribunal held.

He added that the evidence showed “forgery and deception” and struck out the case as an abuse of process.

“The case has been pursued by others in the name of a person who never existed,” the judgment declared.

Ozekhome’s case collapses

Ozekhome, who represented himself in the latter stages of the proceedings, argued that the property was transferred to him in 2021 by “Mr. Tali Shani,” who he claimed was the true registered owner – although Useni registered it in the name of “Ms” Tali Shani.

He admitted that he had never known “Mr. Tali Shani” before January 2019, and that he had no personal knowledge of the original 1993 purchase of the London property or of its management in the years that followed.

Instead, he relied on his relationship with the Useni, whom he had known for over two decades as both a client and a friend.

According to Ozekhome, his acquaintance with “Mr. Shani” developed after their introduction in 2019.

He described Shani as a man from a wealthy family, involved in farming cattle, groundnuts, and mangoes, and as a “big property guy” engaged in commercial dealings. Ozekhome stated that he undertook a number of legal matters for him, winning several cases.

These services, he said, ranged from advisory work to court appearances.

Although pressed, he declined to produce documentary proof of this work, citing the shield of client confidentiality and privilege.

The central plank of Ozekhome’s evidence related to the transfer of the London property to him in 2021.

He insisted that the transfer was a gift from “Mr. Shani,” given in gratitude for the extensive legal services he had rendered in the two years since their introduction.

Ozekhome testified that Shani felt “beholden” to him, even describing him as a father figure. He denied ever paying the £500,000 mentioned in Shani’s statement or any other sum in cash.

Instead, he argued that the property was transferred to him as recognition that the value of his legal services exceeded that amount.

But the tribunal found this story equally false.

“Mr. Tali Shani… did not purchase this property himself in 1993, and so had no title of his own to pass to the respondent,” the judge ruled.

The court said the narrative advanced by Ozekhome and supported by his son amounted to “a contrived story… invented in an attempt to provide a plausible reason” for the transfer.

The real Shani is…

The tribunal accepted that a man named Mr. Tali Shani exists and holds a genuine Nigerian passport, but found his claim of buying a London property in 1993 at age 20 to be “implausible and unproven”.

Shani, who testified as Ozekhome’s witness, had claimed in his evidence that he bought it with his own money as an investment and appointed Useni to manage it from the start. (The Cable)

However, the tribunal held that his account lacked detail, supporting documents, and credibility, and that his explanations -claiming wealth from cattle and mango sales – were unconvincing.

His stated purchase price conflicted with documentary evidence showing the property was first bought in 1993 by one Philips Bincan for £110,000. Shani later altered his story but could not reconcile the discrepancies.

His testimony clashed with Useni’s own statement that they only met years later, with Shani approaching him in 2010 to manage the property.

The tribunal, therefore, concluded that Shani had nothing to do with the 1993 purchase.

Useni used false name to buy the property

The retired general, who died in January 2025, gave video testimony in June 2024, confirming that he – not anyone called Tali Shani – bought the property in 1993.

“I owned it… I bought the property… before I gave it to someone to run… I paid the deposit… then bit by bit…. I bought it… it is my property,” he told the court.

The tribunal noted that Useni’s evidence was consistent with documents showing the 1993 purchaser as “Philips Bincan,” another alias.

The tribunal concluded that the London property was purchased by Useni, who was also a minister of transport under President Ibrahim Babangida, and not the man claiming to be “Mr Tali Shani.”

Although, the property was registered under the name “Tali Shani,” the tribunal held that evidence from a Jersey court case showed that Useni had a practice of using false or “coded” names, such as “Tim Shani,” for bank accounts and companies.

The court held that the similarity of names and timing strongly supported the finding that Useni deliberately used the false name “Tali Shani” to register the property.

The tribunal ruled that since “Mr. Tali Shani” had no legal title to transfer the London property to Ozekhome, the chief land registrar must cancel Ozekhome’s application to be registered as proprietor.

The evidence showed Useni who was the real owner of the property had directed the transfer to Ozekhome.

The tribunal rejected “shifting claims” by Ozekhome and Shani about consideration for the transfer – ranging from cash payments, to legal services worth over £500,000, to gifts of property, to a gesture of gratitude – finding them contradictory, implausible, and fabricated.

The court concluded that Shani was merely a conduit used by Useni, who had registered the property in the false name “Tali Shani” in 1993, and therefore Shani could not pass ownership to Ozekhome.

“As to precisely why General Useni chose to direct this transfer to the respondent, I do not need to (and indeed cannot) make detailed findings. I consider that it is highly possible that it was in satisfaction of some debt or favour owed,” the judge held.

“The final outcome of this case, therefore, is that both parties have failed. Neither ‘Tali Shani’ was who they said they were… The real owner, via a false name, was General Jeremiah Useni.”

Finally, the court held that since Useni is deceased, ownership now rests with whoever obtains probate of his English assets.

The decision will be published, leaving it to the relevant authorities to decide what further action to take. (TheCable)