A former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Shendam Branch, Plateau State, Gabriel Nkup Tsenyen, is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday before the Federal High Court in Abuja by the Department of State Services over alleged cybercrime and incitement arising from WhatsApp posts linked to a land dispute involving the President of the Court of Appeal.
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The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/317/2026, contains four counts bordering on alleged conspiracy, attempted transmission of false information, cyberstalking and acts said to be capable of causing a breach of public peace.
The planned arraignment comes despite the fact that the underlying land ownership dispute is already the subject of a pending civil suit before the High Court of Plateau State sitting in Shendam.
Human rights lawyer and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, who disclosed the impending arraignment in a post on X on Tuesday, described the prosecution as one of the striking examples of alleged weaponisation and abuse of state power in recent Nigerian history.
“Tomorrow at Court 4 of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the DSS will initiate one of the more spectacular cases of weaponization and abuse of power in recent Nigerian history,” Odinkalu wrote.
According to him, the criminal charges arose from Tsenyen’s public complaints over what he described as the alleged forceful takeover of his family’s ancestral land in Ngotugu’ut village, Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Odinkalu said Tsenyen had accused the President of the Court of Appeal of involvement in the disputed acquisition and had already instituted a civil action before the Plateau State High Court.
“It concerns a land dispute in Shendam, in Plateau South. Gabriel Tsenyen, former chairman of the NBA in Shendam, accuses the current President of the Court of Appeal of involvement in forcibly taking his family land. He has sued and the matter is pending in the High Court of Plateau State in Shendam,” Odinkalu stated.
He further disclosed that Tsenyen had petitioned the National Judicial Council over the allegations, but the NJC reportedly declined to investigate, taking the position that the issue did not amount to judicial misconduct and should be left for the civil courts to determine.
“Mr. Tsenyen also did a petition to the NJC against the President of the Court of Appeal but the NJC said the matter does not rise to judicial misconduct and should be left to the civil courts to decide,” Odinkalu said.
Court documents shared by Odinkalu show that in the first count, the DSS alleged that Tsenyen conspired with unnamed persons to circulate a publication on the Ngootuguut community WhatsApp platform, alleging that members of the community were plotting to eliminate him.
The prosecution alleged that the publication was false and was intended to cause annoyance, criminal intimidation, hatred, ill will and needless anxiety among members of the community.
The count was brought under Sections 27(1)(b) and 24(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended.
In the second count, the DSS accused Tsenyen of attempting to send the same publication through the WhatsApp platform, contrary to Sections 27(1)(a) and 24(1) of the Cybercrimes Act.
The third count alleges that he actually transmitted the publication through the community WhatsApp group in violation of Section 24(1) of the Cybercrimes Act.
The fourth count alleges that the publication was made with intent to incite or cause a breach of public peace, contrary to Section 114 of the Penal Code Act.
The charge was signed by a team of DSS prosecutors comprising M. E. Ernest, O. M. Owan, U. M. Bulla, C. S. Eze and E. G. Orubor.
The DSS also listed its Investigating Officer as the principal witness, while indicating that additional witnesses may be called during trial.
Documents accompanying the criminal charge indicate that Tsenyen had already approached the Plateau State High Court before the commencement of the criminal prosecution.
In Suit No. PLD/59/2025, Tsenyen is suing for himself and on behalf of the Tsenyen family of Ngotugu’ut village.
The defendants in the civil action include Tanko Danjuma, Dan-Azumi Danjuma, Miskoom Niemu’ut Mensem, and the Incorporated Trustees of William Mensem Memorial Foundation School.
The civil suit seeks judicial determination over ownership and control of the disputed family land.
Odinkalu criticised the DSS for allegedly converting a pending land dispute into a federal criminal prosecution under the Cybercrimes Act.
“In a bizarre twist, the SSS, aka DSS, is now charging Mr. Tsenyen with some unimaginative crimes under the Cybercrimes Act arising from posts he made on the community WhatsApp platform about this matter of the allegation of theft of his family land by the President of the Court of Appeal with whom he comes from the same village,” he wrote.
He questioned why the DSS would devote resources to prosecuting a dispute that originated in Plateau State while insecurity continues to ravage parts of the state.
“This matter arose in Plateau State but they have managed to invent a federal charge in Abuja,” Odinkalu said.
He added that Plateau State was struggling with massacres and insecurity, while the DSS, which he said has a primary constitutional duty to address internal security threats, was being drawn into a matter that, in his view, had no connection with national security.
“Plateau State is struggling with massacres on an agricultural scale. The SSS has the primary constitutional duty to end it. Instead, it is derailed into being used for a matter that could not possibly in any way engage the internal security of the country,” he said.
The Federal High Court in Abuja is expected to take Tsenyen’s plea when the matter comes up before Court 4 on Wednesday.
Tsenyen has not been convicted of any offence, and the allegations against him remain subject to determination by the court.
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