A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned till August 20 the case of a former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Shendam branch, Plateau State, Gabriel Nkup Tsenyen, who is standing trial over allegations of cyberstalking and incitement of public disturbance.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, on Friday, ordered that Tsenyen be remanded in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, pending determination of whether he can be tried afresh over the allegations.
The court is expected to rule on August 20 on whether the fresh charge against Tsenyen, who doubles as an APC chieftain in Plateau State, relates to a matter for which he had earlier been arraigned, and whether a fresh trial would be legally permissible.
Trouble started when the DSS moved to arraign the lawyer on a fresh two-count charge bordering on cyberstalking and incitement to breach the public peace. But as soon as Tsenyen was called up to take his plea, his lead counsel, Emmanuel Esene, SAN, kicked against the arraignment.
Esene told the court that his client had already been arraigned before the same court on identical allegations, with the earlier matter already adjourned to September 28 for trial. He urged the court to disallow the fresh arraignment, warning that it would amount to subjecting his client to double jeopardy.
Counsel for the DSS, Muinat Oladunjoye, who represented the prosecution on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation, said she had no knowledge of any prior charge against Tsenyen.
Faced with the conflicting claims, Justice Abdulmalik asked the defence to produce a copy of the earlier charge, which Esene tendered in court. The judge then asked for the record of proceedings from the earlier case to help her verify whether Tsenyen had truly been arraigned on the same allegations before.
The defence said it could not produce the record immediately, explaining that the fresh charge had taken them by surprise only a day earlier, on Thursday, August 13. Justice Abdulmalik consequently ordered that the record of proceedings be produced on August 20, and directed that Tsenyen remain in DSS custody until then.
The fresh charge, filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, alleges that Tsenyen, in May 2026, circulated a malicious publication on the Ngootuguut community WhatsApp platform claiming that the entire community was plotting to eliminate him. The prosecution alleges he knew the claim to be false and shared it to stir annoyance, insult, intimidation, enmity and needless anxiety in the community — an offence under Section 24(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended.
A second count accuses him of circulating the same publication with intent to incite or cause a breach of the public peace, contrary to Section 114 of the Penal Code Act, 2004.
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