The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday stalled the fresh arraignment of a former Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association, Shendam branch, Plateau State, Gabriel Tsenyen, following an objection by his counsel that he had already been arraigned on the same allegations.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik fixed August 20 to determine whether Tsenyen, who is also a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, can be tried afresh over allegations of cyberstalking and incitement of public disturbances.
The development followed an attempt by the Department of State Services to arraign the lawyer on a fresh two-count charge bordering on cyberstalking and incitement to breach public peace.
But shortly after Tsenyen was called into the dock to take his plea, his lead counsel, Emmanuel Esene, SAN, objected to the arraignment.
Esene told the court that his client had already been arraigned before the same court on the same allegations and that the earlier case had been adjourned until September 28 for trial.
He consequently urged the court not to allow the fresh arraignment, arguing that doing so could expose his client to double jeopardy.
However, counsel for the DSS, Muinat Oladunjoye, who appeared for the prosecution from the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, said she was unaware of any previous charge against Tsenyen.
Following the conflicting positions, Justice Abdulmalik requested a copy of the earlier charge from the defence which was produced by the defence counsel.
The judge subsequently requested the record of proceedings in the earlier case to enable her determine whether Tsenyen had indeed been arraigned on the same allegations.
Esene, however, said it could not produce the record immediately because the fresh charge had come as a surprise to them on Thursday.
Justice Abdulmalik then ordered that the record of proceedings in the earlier trial be produced on August 20.
Pending the production and examination of the record, the judge ordered that Tsenyen be remanded at the DSS detention facility.
The fresh charge was filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Iseoluwa Oyedepo.
In the first count, the prosecution alleged that Tsenyen, sometime in May 2026, sent a malicious publication on the Ngootuguut local community WhatsApp platform alleging that the entire community was involved in a plot to eliminate him.
The prosecution alleged that he knew the publication to be false and sent it “for the purpose of causing annoyance, insult, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will and needless anxiety” in the community.
The alleged offence was said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prevention, Prohibition, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended.
In count two, the prosecution alleged that the lawyer sent the same publication “with intent to incite or cause breach to public peace.”
The alleged offence was said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 114 of the Penal Code Act, 2004.
The court will on August 20 determine, among other things, whether the fresh charges relate to allegations for which Tsenyen had previously been arraigned and whether the proposed fresh trial is legally permissible.
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