A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the remand of a lawyer and four others at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) over alleged cyberbullying of Senator Shehu Baba Umar, Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence.

Justice Rita Offili-Ajumogobia on Thursday directed that Barrister Ahmed Abdulrahman, Daure David, Ishaq Abubakar Muhammed, Abdulrashid Abdullahi Musa, and Nasiru Usman Abubakar be held in custody pending the next hearing of the case.

The defendants were arraigned by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on an 11-count charge bordering on cyberbullying, advance fee fraud, and extortion, allegedly involving attempts to blackmail the senator.

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When the charges were read, all five defendants pleaded not guilty.

Following their plea, the prosecution counsel, Victor Okoye, requested a trial date and asked that the defendants be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.

However, counsel to the first defendant, Affis Matanmi, applied for bail on behalf of his client, arguing that as a practising lawyer, Abdulrahman would neither evade trial nor interfere with police investigations or witnesses if granted bail.

In opposing the bail application, the prosecution counsel, Okoye, claimed that shortly after being granted administrative bail, the lawyer allegedly engaged in two additional acts of cyberbullying and was prominently mentioned in five of the eleven charges.

After hearing both sides, Justice Offili-Ajumogobia ordered the remand of the defendants and adjourned the case to November 10 for further hearing.