- Ozekhome Trial: Court Hears How ICAO Checks Could Expose Fake Passport
The alleged forgery of a Nigerian passport has taken centre stage in the ongoing trial of constitutional lawyer, Professor Mike Ozekhome, and Ponfa Useni, as a prosecution witness explained to the Federal Capital Territory High Court how international passport data are tested against International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.
The witness, an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) forensic expert, Bamaiyi Mairiga, told the court that a passport data page must satisfy specific ICAO authentication requirements before it can be regarded as fit for issuance.
Mairiga said the examination of the disputed passport bearing the name Tali Shani showed that its data page failed the required check-digit authentication process.
According to the witness, information including the passport number, date of birth and date of expiry contains mathematically generated check digits designed to help verify the accuracy and integrity of passport information.
He explained that the system enables immigration and border-control officials to detect inconsistencies between information displayed on a passport’s visual inspection zone and its machine-readable zone.
The testimony followed an earlier appearance by an NIS principal staff officer, Aridegbe Akim, who told the court that a passport bearing the name Tali Shani was not found in the Nigerian Immigration Service database and was not issued by the agency.
The prosecution has alleged that Ozekhome and Useni were involved in the production and use of a false Nigerian international passport as part of efforts to establish a claim over a property in London. The defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
During cross-examination, Ozekhome’s counsel, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, questioned the forensic witness on the scope and methodology of his examination, including whether he checked for alterations such as photo replacement, page substitution and erasures.
Mairiga maintained that his examination followed ICAO procedures and involved forensic technologies and manual calculations. He also clarified that some physical security features could not be examined because the material supplied for analysis was not the original passport document.
The case therefore turns partly on whether the disputed document can be established as a genuine Nigerian passport and whether the forensic evidence presented by the prosecution sufficiently proves the allegations against the defendants.
The court has adjourned proceedings for continuation of the trial, with further examination of the prosecution’s evidence expected as the case progresses.
