Assault saga: Police ignore CCT chairman, detain trader for one week

The Nigeria police have detained Peter Onyiuke, a trader in Abuja, for one week, following the assault saga involving Danladi Umar, chairman of the Code Of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

Colleagues of Onyiuke told TheCable during a visit to the plaza that he was detained on Monday last week, hours after Umar was caught beating up a guard at a popular plaza.

The CCT chairman was said to have ordered the arrest of the 34-year-old for allegedly insulting him when he visited Banex plaza.

Before then, Umar had beaten up a security man who had told him his vehicle was parked in the wrong space when he arrived at the plaza.

In his defence, Ibraheem Al-Hassan, CCT spokesperson, said the guard was rude and could not provide a reasonable explanation why Umar should not park in the said space.

Despite the demands for the removal and prosecution of Umar, the police have continued to drag foot in the case, choosing instead to detain Onyiuke with no charges filed against him.

In an interview with TheCable, a colleague of Onyiuke who identified himself as Apostle Paul recalled how Umar asked the police to arrest the trader after picking his (Umar’s) phone that fell during the altercation.

His claim was corroborated by two other traders at the plaza as well as Samuel Ihensekhien, a lawyer to the brutalised security man, who said the police has failed to charge Onyiuke for any offence despite detaining him for one week.

Paul said he was with Onyiuke when he was arrested, adding that the latter did nothing apart from helping to get the CCT chairman’s phone after it fell.

He said: “As he (Umar) was beating the security man, his glass and the phone fell. He picked the phone, hoping to give it to him after. So, when the tension has raised, he called the man and was telling him to take his phone.

“The policemen with the man approached him and took the phone to the man. So, Peter was asking the man, ‘you couldn’t even say thank you for your phone; you didn’t even say anything.’ The man was asking why he should say thank you, that why should he be asking him to come and get the phone.

“The man called the police to bring the boy, that he is insulting him. My friend started asking, ‘how did I insult you, that I simply asked you to come and collect your phone. Is that why you will ask the police to arrest me?’ As they were trying to arrest him, he started running and escaped.”

Paul added that it was later in the evening at about 6 pm that the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) picked the boy when he came back to the plaza to get some of his belongings.

“They rounded him and were even stripping him naked. For over one hour, they were struggling to put him in the car. We were asking what he did wrong while they were even firing guns into the air to scare people away,” he said.

“After they took him, we were not told where he was taken to as we were looking for him. It was two days after that the DSS called my boss to go to the police division in Zone 2; by then, they have tortured him.”

Paul further said despite incessant plea to grant the trader bail, the policesaid they cannot grant him bail; “that the case is not in their hand but an order given to them.”

“The police was saying the boy insulted the man and we were wondering which insult? It was the second day when we returned that the police started claiming that the boy was among those who beat the man,” he added.

Mariam Yusuf, police spokesperson in FCT, has not responded to an enquiry on the issue, although the command had earlier said it will be fair in its investigation into the matter.

The guard beaten by Umar had earlier told TheCable that the CCT chairman threatened to jail him.

“He (Umar) said he is going to jail me; that he has jailed lots of people and they cannot come out unless he says so. He said he is the one that is fighting Saraki (Bukola Saraki, former senate president) and many people,” the guard had said.