It was I who was assaulted, CCT chair insists

The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar, has said that he was the victim of assault, contrary to information being spread that he assaulted a security guard at an incident that took place at the Banex Plaza, Abuja on Tuesday.

The media has been awash with reports of how Justice Umar had physically assaulted a security guard along with a video of the event shot by a commentator who was upstairs.

But the Head, Press and Public Relations, CCT headquarters, Ibraheem Al-Hassan, said in a statement that the altercation took place over a parking space, and that the reports were skewed against his principal.

According to him, the CCT Xhairman visited the Banex Plaza, which he had visited regularly in the past 18 years without any incident, and tried to park his car in an available lot.

Al-Hassan said a young security guard sighted and accosted him, telling him not to park his car in the particular empty space.

He said the CCT chairman demanded an explanation, but the guard rudely threatened to deal with him if he refused to leave the spot.

According to him, a mob of those he called “Biafra boys” eventually gathered and assaulted the Justice despite the presence of policemen in the complex who “were apparently overwhelmed by the mob,” hauling objects at him and his car and causing the CCT chairman physical harm and damage to his car.

“At a point, he attempted to leave the scene; these same miscreants ordered for the closure of the gate thereby assaulting him before the arrival of police team from Maitama police station,” Al-Hassan added.