By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA– The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, ordered the detention of a lawyer, Ahmed Abdulrahman and four others arraigned for cyberbullying a serving Senator, Shehu Umar.
Justice Rita Offili Ajumogobia ordered that the defendants should be kept at the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, Area 10, Abuja, till November 10, pending the determination of their request for bail.
Other defendants in the charge that was brought before the court by the Inspector General of Police, IGP, are; Daure David, Ishaq Abubakar Muhammed, Abdulrashid Abdullahi Musa and Nasiru Usman Abubakar.
They were accused of blackmailing the Senate Committee Chairman on National Security and Intelligence.
The 11-count charge against them bordered on cyber bullying, advance fee fraud and extortion.
Meanwhile, all the defendants pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them in the open court.
Following their plea, the defence lawyer, Mr. Affis Matanmi, urged the court to release them on bail.
He drew the attention of the trial judge to the fact that the 1st defendant is a legal practitioner and solicitor of the Supreme Court.
Steessing that the charge contained bailable offences, the defence counsel maintained that his clients would not interfere with their trial or influence the proposed witnesses.
Besides, he noted that police had earlier granted administrative bail to the 1st defendant, saying as a lawyer, he was aware of the consequences of jumping bail.
However, the prosecution counsel, Mr. Victor Okoye, opposed the bail application.
He told the court that shortly after the lawyer was admitted to bail, he not only engaged in two other cyber bullying cases, but also featured prominently in five of the 11 count charge.
Okoye argued that though the 1st defendant is a confirmed legal practitioner, he does not deserve any preferential or special treatment since no provision in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, or the 1999 Constitution, as amended, conferred such privilege on any lawyer involved in criminality.
After she had listened to both sides, Justice Ajumogobia ordered that the defendants should be remanded, even as she directed the defence counsel to file a further affidavit and reply on point of law to weighty allegations contained in the counter affidavit that was filed by the prosecution.
In count one of the charge, the defendants were alleged to had sometime in 2025, conspired among themselves “to commit an offence, to wit; cyberstalking against Senator Shehu Buba Umar.”
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 27(1)(b) and punishable under Section 21(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc.) Act 2015 (as amended) 2024.
In count three, the 1st defendant, Abdulrahman, was alleged to had sometime in 2025, intentionally sent a video via his Tiktok handle with user name “Kibanna Channel” and his Youtube channel, to defame the lawmaker by linking him to sponsorship of banditry, with a view to tarnishing his image as a serving Senator.
The suspect was alleged to have stated that “Senator Umar, a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a sponsor of banditry and called for his investigation, a statement you made by means of computer systems and network knowing same to be false, for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order and causing the Senator fear of death.”
The offence was said to be contrary to Section 24(1)(5) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 (as amended) 2024, among other counts.
More so, in one of the counts, another defendant, David, was accused of attempting to collect N5million from Senator Umar under false pretense that the money would be used to settle people that were planning to protest against the lawmaker.
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