The CCT chair, who presides over the trial of public officers accused of breach of code of conduct enumerated in the Nigerian Constitution, was on Monday seen in a video clip, assaulting a security guard identified as Clement Sargwak at Banex Plaza, Wuse 2, Abuja.
The embattled Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, has claimed that contrary to the content of a circulated video, he was a victim of an assault by people who chanted “secessionist and sectional slogans.”
The CCT chair, who presides over the trial of public officers accused of breach of code of conduct enumerated in the Nigerian Constitution, was on Monday seen in a video clip, assaulting a security guard identified as Clement Sargwak at Banex Plaza, Wuse 2, Abuja.
In an attempt to explain what transpired before the incident, the tribunal issued a statement signed by Ibraheem Al-Hassan, CCT spokesperson, claiming Umar was attacked by ‘Biafran boys’.
In Al-Hassan’s words, the chairman was “overwhelmed by the mobs, consisting of BIAFRAN boys throwing matches and shape object to his car (sic).
“At a point he attempted to leave the scene, these same miscreants, BIAFRAN boy ordered for the closure of the gate thereby assaulting him before the arrival of police team from Maitama police station.”
But in an interview with PRNigeria, Umar said the video in circulation did not reveal the true situation of what happened.
He however did not deny asking the CCT spokesperson to issue a statement blaming the mob attack on him on ‘Biafran boys’, claiming he was attacked by a mob that were “chanting secessionist and sectional slogan.”
Umar said, “As part of my routine activities outside the office and official duties, like any regular Nigerian, I always drive myself and move around freely to places of worship, markets and gyms, among others, without any paraphernalia of office.
“I enjoy such freedom being a believer that one day one would leave whatever office one occupies and returning to living the normal life.
“Therefore, when I was accosted by the Plaza guard in a very rude manner on arriving there, I had maintained my accustomed decorum before I was drawn into an unnecessary altercation and subsequently assaulted, with this degenerating into an attack and injury by a mob that was chanting secessionist and sectional slogans.
“Since the incident, which left me traumatised after being bruised and treated in the hospital, I have had cause to reflect on the sad course of the incident and I regret being drawn into responding to the situation. This makes me both upset at being cast in a distorted and unfortunate light, while I also have cause to feel deep pains for subsequent response and controversies.
“All said, with an apology tendered to me by one of the suspected aggressors, I believe that the entire incident was avoidable, just as I feel highly disappointed that my action in the public glare in a very brief moment has been misconstrued in the narrative floating across social media.”