The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has faulted the authenticity of the Nigerian passport tendered in the London proceedings in the dispute over a property traced to a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the late General Jeremiah Useni.
An official of the NIS, Aridegbe Akim (who described himself as a Principal Staff Officer to the Comptroller General of Immigration), said the NIS has no record of the passport number A07535463, purportedly issued in the name of Tali Shani.
Akim spoke yesterday at the resumption of proceedings in the trial of Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Ponfa Useni for allegedly forging documents, including an international passport and an irrevocable power of attorney, as well as impersonating to claim a property in London allegedly acquired unlawfully by the late Useni.
Under cross-examination by Ozekhome’s lawyer, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), Akim said the NIS has electronic records of all passports issued monthly in its database.
Akim, who is the first prosecution witness (PW1) in the case, said NIS system operates in a manner that once a name is inserted, it produces the particulars and history of that person.
He said: “But on inserting the name of Tali Shani, no record was found.”
Under cross-examination by Useni’s lawyer, F. R. Onoja (SAN), the witness confirmed that Nigerian passports are machine-readable documents, adding that they have features readable by specific machines.
Akim said the NIS has the record of all the passports it issued in its database.
The witness explained that the NIS operates a process, which includes payment breeder documents, enrolment, production and issuance, which were not found in the database of the Tali Shani passport.
He added that after an online payment is made for a passport, the database generates the record, the breeder documents are then generated and inputted into the system, along with the National Identification Number (NIN).
When Onoja told him that the Tali Shani passport looked the same as the ones issued by the NIS, the witness agreed, but added that each passport bears a unique number.
The witness added that it is the manufacturer that generates the unique number for every passport.
At the conclusion of the cross-examination, the prosecuting lawyer,
A. R. Tahir, asked for a date to call the prosecution’s second witness. The lawyers to the defence did not oppose the request.
Justice Chizoba Oji adjourned further hearing till May 18.
Ozekhome and Useni are being prosecuted before a High Court of the FCT by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (OAGF) on a 12-count charge.