Copyright tribuneonlineng
Justice Rita Offili Ajumogobia has ordered that a legal practitioner, Ahmed Abdulrahman, and four others be remanded at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Area 10 Abuja till November 10 following their arraignment for cyber-bullying the Chairman, Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Senator Shehu Umar. The lawyer was arraigned on Thursday, arraigned by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) along with four o his co-defendants namely: Daure David, Ishaq Abubakar Muhammed, Abdulrashid Abdullahi Musa, and Nasiru Usman Abubakar on an eleven-count charge bordering on cyber bullying, advance fee fraud, and extortion. However, when the charges were read to them before Justice Rita Offili Ajumogobia, the lawyer and the four codefendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. Upon the not guilty plea of the lawyer and his codefendants, Counsel to the prosecution, Victor Okoye asked for a date to commence trial and prayed that the defendants be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Center in Abuja. Counsel to the lawyer, Affis Matanmi however, moved a bail application on behalf of his client, who he said, is a legal practitioner of the Supreme Court and will not interfere with police investigation and witnesses if admitted to bail. He reminded the court that the police, on their own granted the first defendant administrative bail which he did not jump because, as a lawyer, he knows the consequences of jumping bail, and prayed the court to grant him bail on self-recognition. The bail application was opposed by counsel to the prosecution, Victor Okoye, who informed the court that shortly after the lawyer was admitted to bail, he engaged in two other cyber-bullying and that, he featured prominently in five of the eleven count charges. Okoye argued that, although, the first defendant is a confirmed legal practitioner, he does not deserve any preferential or special treatment because there is no provision in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and the 1999 Constitution that confers any special treatment on any legal practitioner involved in criminality. After taking arguments for and against the bail application, Justice Ajumogobia ordered that, the defendants be remanded at the Force CID till November 10 for the lawyer to the first defendant to file a further affidavit and reply on point of law to the weighty allegations contained in the counter affidavit of the prosecution. The Judge subsequently adjourned the matter till November 10. In count one, the defendants were alleged to have, 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, Abdulrahman, the 1st defendant was alleged to have, sometime in 2025, intentionally sent a video via his TikTok handle with the 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.
