Court remands Ex NBA chairman, Shendam Branch, in DSS custody

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered that the former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Shendam Branch, Plateau State, Barrister Gabriel Nkup Tsenyen, be remanded in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja.

The lawyer, who is also a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State, is to remain in DSS custody until August 20, when the propriety or otherwise of his fresh trial on allegations of cyberstalking and incitement of public disturbance will be determined.

Justice Abdulmalik issued the remand order on Friday when the DSS applied for the arraignment of the lawyer on two counts of alleged cyberstalking and incitement.

Shortly after the lawyer was ordered into the dock to take his plea, his lead counsel, Emmanuel Esene, SAN, raised an objection to the arraignment on the grounds that his client had already been arraigned at the same Federal High Court in Abuja on the same allegations and that his trial had been fixed for September 28.

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He expressed surprise at the new arraignment bid and pleaded with the judge not to allow it in order to avoid double jeopardy for the lawyer.

Counsel to the DSS, Muinat Oladunjoye, from the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, who appeared for the prosecution, denied knowledge of any other similar charges against the lawyer.

The situation prompted Justice Abdulmalik to demand a copy of the earlier charge for the record, which was promptly tendered by Esene.

Justice Abdulmalik also demanded the records of proceedings in respect of the earlier charge, but these could not be produced by the defence on the grounds that the new charge had come as a surprise to them on August 13.

However, to ascertain whether the lawyer had earlier been arraigned on the same charges, Justice Abdulmalik ordered that the records of proceedings from the earlier trial be produced before the court on August 20.

Pending the production of the records of proceedings, the judge ordered that the accused lawyer be remanded at the DSS detention facility.

One of the two new counts filed against the lawyer by Rotimi Iseoluwa Oyedepo, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, reads:

“That you, Gabriel Nkup Tsenyen, adult, male, of Ngotuguut, Shendam, Plateau, sometime in May 2026, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did send a malicious publication via Ngootuguut local community WhatsApp platform alleging that the entire Ngootuguut community was involved in a plot to eliminate you, which you know the content of the said publication to be false but sent it out for the purpose of causing annoyance, insult, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will and needless anxiety in the Ngootuguut community and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prevention, Prohibition, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended.”