A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday, ordered the remand of a man, Ishaq Muhammed, at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing and determination of his motion seeking to set aside the bench warrant issued against in the charge preferred against him and his co-defendants for allegedly cyberbullying Sen. Shehu Umar.
The trial judge, Justice Rita Offili-Ajumogobia, who gave the order, also adjourned the matter till November 24 to hear the prosecution’s application for bail revocation of another defendant, Ahmed Abdulrahman, an Abuja-based lawyer.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), in a charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/526/2025, is prosecuting Muhammed, Abdulrahman and three others on allegations bordering on defamation, cybercrime, among others, against Sen. Umar.
Umar is the current serving senator for Bauchi South Senatorial District and the 2027 governorship candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in the state.
While Abdulrahman is named as 1st defendant, Daure David, Ishaq Muhammed, Abdulrashid Musa and Nasir Abubakar are listed as 2nd to 5th defendants respectively.
It would be recalled that, Justice Offili-Ajumogobia had, on September 29, issued a bench warrant for Muhammed’s arrest following his absence in court for his trial, following an oral application by counsel to the AGF, David Kaswe.
When the case was called on Tuesday, Muhammed was in court while Abdulrahman was conspicuously absent.
Kaswe, an assistant director at the Federal Ministry of Justice, who informed the court that the matter was scheduled for hearing however said, the prosecution was served with a letter in the morning, informing the court of the absence of the 1st defendant (Abdulrahman) in court.
He said another letter was served on his office, informing the prosecution that the 2nd defendant (Daure David) was involved in an accident and was indisposed.
The lawyer said, David (2nd defendant)’s letter showed that he was receiving a medical attention in a hospital. He, however raised an objection on the ground that the medical report emanated from a private hospital contrary to the provisions of the law that prescribed that such medical report should come from a government hospital to be admissible.
Kaswe said though Abdulrahman’s letter came from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hopsital, he prayed the court to revoke his bail, arguing that the letter, which was only sent on Tuesday, was an afterthought.
“It is an afterthought in the sense that he is fully aware of today’s case and the intention of the prosecution to apply for his bail revocation. Therefore, his application for adjournment is prompted by our application for the revocation of his bail.
The prosecuting counsel, thereafter, reminded the court of the September 29 bench warrant against Muhammed, the 3rd defendant in the case, who was in court and prayed the court to order for his remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing and determination of his motion to vacate the order which was filed by his lawyer, R. A. Bamigboye.
Kaswe equally recalled that he had, on September 29 made an application for the revocation of the bail granted to Abdulrahman, arguing that, the 1st defendant, who is a lawyer, had violated the conditions of the bail he was granted.
He said Abdulrahman had continued to commit the same offence with which he was standing trial before the court by posting defamatory messages and videos against Senator Umar in disobedience to the order of the court.
Responding, V. Damgdem, who appeared for Abdulrahman, informed the court that his client’s situation was a medical emergence at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital. He added that, though they were served with the motion for revocation of Abdulrahman’s bail, he argued that they were still within time to respond to the weight of the allegations.
Vincent Owhor, who represented David (the 2nd defendant) in court, explained that on October 15, his client got involved in an accident in Bauchi State.
Owhor, who argued that the court had the discretion to admit the medical report in evidence irrespective of whether it emanated from a private or public hospital, cited Section 41(1) of Evidence Act, 2011, to back his argument.
He said, as far as the medical report emanated from a qualified medical personnel, the court could be bound by its content, explaining further that David was taken to a private hospital at the time of the accident and that he had always attended court proceedings before now.
Muhammed’s lawyer, Bamigboye, submitted that although the court issued a bench warrant against the 3rd defendant to ensure his attendance in court, he said his client was already in court.
“We filed a motion seeking to set aside the order at the last adjourned date, he was in court though he came late,” he said and urged the court to discountenance the prosecution’s application to remand his client in a correctional centre pending the hearing and determination of their motion.
A. A. Badmos, who appeared for the 4th defendant, and Hamza Dantani, who represented the 5th defendant, did not oppose the application by Abdulrahman for an adjournment.
The judge, who granted Kaswe’s application for Muhammed’s remand, adjourned the case till November 24 for hearing of the application for the revocation of Abdulrahman’s bail, hearing of motion to vacate Muhammed’s bench warrant and for trial.
In count three of the 11-count charge filed on October 6, 2025, Abdulrahman was alleged to have, 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, “Sen. Buba, 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 is said to be contrary to Section 24(1)(5) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 (as amended) 2024, among other counts, among others.
They, however, pleaded not guilty to the counts and they were remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre before they were admitted to bail.
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