More details have emerged on the alleged assault of a security guard at Banel Plaza in Abuja On Monday by the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar.
Umar was caught in a viral video clip slapping and kicking the security guard following an altercation between them over the space where the CCT chairman parked his vehicle on the premises of the plaza.
However, a statement by the CCT on Tuesday denied the allegation insisting that it was Umar who was assaulted by “miscreants” at the scene.
But narrating his own side of the incident PREMIUM TIMES, the victim, Clement Sargwak,22, an employee of Jul Reliable Guards Services Limited, posted as a security guard to Banex Plaza, said his trouble started when he told Umar to correct his wrong parking .
He said, ”I work as a security man stationed at the car park section at the old Banex Plaza. I was on duty when a man (Mr Umar) arrived in his car at the plaza and I noticed he parked his vehicle wrongly.
“Then I approached him to inform him about his wrong parking, because he had parked by the roadside obstructing other visitors arriving at the plaza.
”After I informed him about his wrong parking, he came out and slapped me… the driver also came down and slapped me and they tore my uniform and they stepped over (on) me severally.”
Dismissing the allegation that he threatened Umar, Sargwak said, Umar even dashed to his car to pick an iron rod intending to hit him on my head.
“It was a tenant at the plaza that held his hand and pleaded with him not to hit me.
”I later ran to meet my supervisor to come to my aid. I was unable to find my supervisor. But I later got my head guard to report my situation. On getting there, my head guard called the Banex police.
“When the police from Banex arrived at the scene, they tried calming the situation after speaking with him (Umar) without success. The Oga called the police and SSS stationed at his residence and ordered the driver to go pick the security officers while he waited for them.
”When the man arrived with the security men, the Oga slapped me again in front of the police and ordered a police officer to also slap me which he did and thereafter ordered me to kneel down and I obeyed. As I went on my knees, the Oga also kicked me in my face and hit my mouth. I fell and my head guard then took me to my M.D’s office. That was when the Maitama Police Division came and took us to their station,” Sargwark added.
According to Sargwark, after spending some time at the Maitama Police Division, the Banex plaza’s lawyer arrived to get him freed:
”When we got there with the man ( Umar) he was at the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) office but he later left. I was later approached by the police to call my manager from the plaza so we could be released. My manager came along with the Banex plaza’s lawyer and I was later bailed ,” Sargwak said.
Asked if he spent the night at the cell, he said, ”No I did not spend the night there. I was not even put inside the cell.”
He added that Umar returned later to arrest one Peter Onyiuke, who had helped him (Umar) pick his phone and immediately returned it because “his (Umar’s) phone had dropped on the floor when he was beating me.”
”He arrived with two Hilux vehicles filled with operatives of the SSS. He dropped them and left. SSS operatives fired some shots in the air and they took Onyiuke away,” said Sargwak.
Lawyer to the owners of the plaza who also represents Sargwak, Samuel Ihensekhien, who said the Police FCT Police Command had taken over the case, added his account:
“…I met with the DPO and I brought out the video recordings of what actually happened.
”They (the police) were very surprised, and the DPO saw the footage and immediately ordered he (Sargwak) be released on bail forthwith. He was then handed to the Banex manager and from there he was taken for medication.”
Ihenskhien, expressed displeasure with the manner of interrogation and invitation of Sargwak by the police, insisting that his client, being the assault victim, “should be treated like the nominal complainant”.
“We do not have a problem with the police invite, but with the way the matter has progressed, he has the status as a nominal complainant, because he was the one that was assaulted.
”They (police) came this morning and about three of them in mufti from the FCT Command and Maitama Police station with two police officers who were escorts. They took his statement again, and his photograph. I am not comfortable with that. If they want anything from him, they should invite his lawyers, not him.”
