London court rules Nigerian general Useni owned Neasden home after identity-fraud case

A London tribunal has ruled that neither 'Ms Tali Shani' nor Chief Mike Agbedor Abu Ozekhome could establish ownership of the north London property at 79 Randall Avenue, Neasden. Judge Ewan Paton said the real owner is Jeremiah Useni, a retired Nigerian lieutenant-general and former government minister who died in January while the case was underway.

The dispute began in February 2023 when Chief Ozekhome filed an application with the Land Registry to transfer ownership of the three-bedroom home to himself, saying he had gifted the property to Useni in gratitude for legal services. In support, a person claiming to be 'Mr Tali Shani' asserted he owned the property before appointing General Useni to manage it. A separate objector, acting for a 'Ms Tali Shani', challenged the transfer, insisting that she remained the true owner. The tribunal heard competing narratives in which both 'Mr' and 'Ms' Tali Shani claimed rights to the same house, a situation the judge labeled as highly irregular.

The tribunal heard that a Nigerian government official testified that the documents purportedly identifying 'Ms Tali Shani' were forged and that the claimed home address did not exist. Before his death in January, General Useni testified via video link that he had bought the Neasden home for his family and denied any relationship with anyone called 'Ms Tali Shani'. The court also noted a separate Jersey judgment in which £1.9 million held in four bank accounts under the name 'Tim Shani' was forfeited as proceeds of unlawful conduct, underscoring the broader questions about tangled asset ownership and identity.

Judge Paton concluded that 'Ms Tali Shani' was a fictitious character and the documents used to confirm her identity were fraudulent. He found that a 'Mr Tali Shani' does exist, but it was implausible that he could have purchased 79 Randall Avenue in 1993, when he would have been about 20 years old and working as a cattle herder. The court determined that the true owner was General Useni, and that the claimed transfer to Chief Ozekhome was either an invention or a contrivance aimed at avoiding stamp duty. While the judge did not conclude that Ozekhome intended to steal the property, he suggested the motive behind the arrangement was unclear.

Paton also criticized the conduct of the solicitor, Kingsley Efemuai, saying it was not possible to find he acted dishonestly or was actively complicit in a calculated fraud, but he described Efemuai as having shown astonishing complacency and credulity in handling the proceedings. He ordered the Land Registry to reject the registration of the transfer, effectively placing the Neasden house into General Useni’s estate.

The ruling leaves the property tied to Useni’s estate, with the court documenting the unusual and potentially problematic chain of identity claims that accompanied the attempt to re-register ownership. The 2023 dispute, and the related Jersey-related financial findings, highlight how cross-border asset transfers can be entangled in allegations of forgery, impersonation and other fraud, even as families and officials contend with complex personal histories and posthumous estate issues. The Daily Mail and other outlets had reported on the case and its sensational elements, which prompted questions about due diligence and accountability in property transactions involving Nigerian public figures and their associates.