Alleged Assault: CCT Boss Speaks, Says Viral Video Not the Whole Story

The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Mr Danladi Umar has finally spoken on his altercation with a security guard at the Banex Plaza, in the Wuse area of Abuja.

Umar, who gave his own side of the story to PRNigeria, however observed that the viral video showing his alleged assualt of the security guard failed to capture where he was harrassed and assaulted by a mob at the plaza.

The CCT boss in the interview further clarified that contrary to insinuations, he had no bodyguard or police escort with him when he visited the Plaza.

A viral video on social media had alleged that Umar had ordered his security details to attack a security guard after a brawl over a breach of parking space.

“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”, he had explained.

He said he enjoys such freedom because he knows that some day he would leave public office and return to 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”, he said.

“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”, he added.

Umar however noted that with an apology tendered to him by one of the suspected aggressors, he believe that the entire incident was avoidable.

He also expressed disappointment over his “action in the public glare in a very brief moment” which according to him “has been misconstrued in the narrative floating across social media”.

Meanwhile, the CCT Spokesperson, Mr. Ibraheem Alhassan has issued a public apology for his poorly written statement which he said was an unedited draft.

In his statement, Alhassan wrote thus: “The incident of March 29, 2021, which became public via a viral video clip caused very strong emotional sensations, pressure and worries that also got to us and impaired our response to it”.

Al-Hassan in the statement noted that the disturbance led to the release of the draft and unedited script to three professional colleagues of his, which unfortunately found its way to the public space through one of them, in its raw form.

While disclosing that the said colleague in question had since apologised over the incident which he had also accepted in good fate, the Spokesman said he felt, “embarrassed and disappointed with criticism trailing the leaked draft statement which has been described as riddled with grammatical blunders and ethnic slur due to the poor presentation”.

He recalled that as a civil servant, he has been relating with Nigerians with respect and dignity, not minding their religious or ethnic backgrounds.

“I wish to therefore tender my unreserved apology to Nigerians and especially the Federal Ministry of Information & Culture, the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), the Nigerian Institution of Public Relations (NIPR), and the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) among others over the unsavoury development,” he said.

Credit: ThisDay

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