The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee has suspended Chief Mike Ozekhome from the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, acting at its 173rd general meeting held on June 23 in line with Paragraph 26(6) of the guidelines governing the SAN conferment process. The suspension holds until the Disciplinary and Ethics Sub-Committee of the LPPC concludes the proceedings now before it.
Kabir Akanbi, Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Secretary of the LPPC, signed the statement announcing the move, framing it as a measure to protect the integrity, dignity, and prestige of the SAN rank while the committee weighs the matters under review. Ozekhome has been directed to stop presenting himself or holding himself out as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria for as long as the disciplinary process runs.
The committee said it remains committed to upholding ethics and discipline within the legal profession and to keeping the SAN rank credible in the eyes of the public. The suspension lands against a backdrop of other legal trouble for Ozekhome, who already faces a forgery case in which a court granted him bail alongside one other defendant, a case the Attorney General of the Federation has since taken over from the ICPC.
Apples Bite Magazine understands that the suspension comes as Ozekhome faces a disputed property case in the United Kingdom. A UK tribunal had earlier indicted the lawyer for allegedly using fraudulent documents to claim ownership of a property at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX, a property later traced to the late General Jeremiah Useni of Plateau State. The tribunal struck out all evidence presented by Ozekhome, citing sharp practices carried out in collaboration with a witness identified as Tali Shani.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has since filed a three-count charge against Ozekhome at the Federal High Court in Abuja, marked FCT/HC/CR/010/2026. Osuobeni Akponimisingha, head of the agency’s High Profile Prosecution Department, and Ngozi Onwuka, Assistant Chief Legal Officer, filed the charge on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation. The charges border on:
- Giving false information
- Use of forged documents
- Attempting to deceive a public authority
Count one accuses Ozekhome, described in the charge as 68 years old and resident at No. 53, Nile Street, Maitama, Abuja, of directly receiving the Randall Avenue house from Shani Tali sometime in August 2021 in London, an act the charge says he knew amounted to a felony, contrary to Section 13 and punishable under Section 24 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
