The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) has suspended prominent constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, from using the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), pending the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings against him.
The decision was reached at the LPPC’s 173rd General Meeting held on June 23, 2026, according to a statement issued on Thursday by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court and Secretary of the Committee, Kabir Akanbi.
The committee said the suspension was approved pursuant to Paragraph 26(6) of the Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and all matters relating to the rank, TheCable reports.
According to the LPPC, Ozekhome’s suspension will remain in effect pending the final determination of disciplinary proceedings before its Disciplinary and Ethics Sub-Committee, as well as other related proceedings.
“The suspension shall remain in force pending the conclusion of the disciplinary proceedings and any other related matters before the appropriate bodies,” the committee stated.
Although the LPPC did not disclose the specific allegations that led to the disciplinary action, the development comes months after Ozekhome faced legal scrutiny over allegations of forgery linked to a disputed property in the United Kingdom.
In January 2026, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) filed charges against Ozekhome, accusing him of presenting allegedly forged documents, including a Nigerian passport, in proceedings relating to ownership of a London property.
The case was subsequently taken over by the Attorney-General of the Federation before being withdrawn and struck out by a court in Abuja in February.
In March, a prosecution witness told an Abuja High Court that a Nigerian passport bearing the name “Tali Shani,” tendered in a London property fraud case involving Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni, did not exist in the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) database.
The witness, Aridegbe Akim, a Principal Staff Officer to the Comptroller-General of Immigration, made the disclosure while testifying in the trial of the two defendants, who are facing a 12-count charge filed by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation bordering on forgery, impersonation and conspiracy.
The prosecution alleges that the defendants forged several documents, including an international passport and an irrevocable power of attorney, in an attempt to claim ownership of a London property allegedly linked to the late former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, General Jeremiah Useni. Both defendants pleaded not guilty.
Akim told the court that passport number A07535463, purportedly issued in the name of Tali Shani, could not be traced to any official NIS record after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wrote to the service requesting verification.
“It is not in our database. The passport belonging to Tali Shani is fake,” he said.
The witness explained that every genuine Nigerian passport passes through a systematic process involving online payment, submission of breeder documents, National Identification Number (NIN) verification, biometric enrolment and production, none of which were found in relation to the disputed document.
He added that Nigerian passports are encrypted under standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), allowing immigration authorities across international borders to access biometric data, and that the NIS system is designed to instantly retrieve the full profile and history of any passport holder once their name is entered.
Although Akim acknowledged under cross-examination that the disputed passport appeared visually similar to genuine Nigerian passports, he stressed that each document carries a unique number that must correspond with NIS records.
Akim also told the court that the NIS found no record of a staff member named Abdulkadir Lawal, following a separate EFCC request, a finding subsequently communicated to the anti-graft agency.
Justice Chizoba Oji admitted several documents tendered by the prosecution, including correspondence between the EFCC and the NIS as well as the genuine and disputed passports, marking them as exhibits after the defence raised no objections. The case was subsequently adjourned for continuation.
Ozekhome, one of Nigeria’s most prominent human rights lawyers and constitutional advocates, was conferred with the SAN rank in 1997 and has remained a vocal figure in national legal and political debates.
The LPPC, chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, is the statutory body responsible for the conferment, regulation and discipline of holders of the SAN rank, the highest professional distinction for legal practitioners in Nigeria.
