Youths for Justice in Nigeria, a Civil Society Organisation, has picked holes in the media interview granted to Premium Times by the security guard who was allegedly assaulted by the Chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Justice Danladi Umar, at Bannex Plaza in Abuja.
The group, in a press statement Sunday in Abuja, asserted that the media interview the security guard granted the online media ran contrary to the video that went viral on social media platforms, describing the alleged victim as genius in dishing out lies.
The statement by the National Coordinator, Prince Samuel Pai’, called on Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other human rights organisations to be thorough and fair in their respective investigations into the matter.
According to the group, “Being loud doesn’t increase the value or validity of opinion.”
Pai’ maintained that the video does not in anyway correspond with the media interview except there were two different assaults on that same day and in the same spot.
“At first we were sympathetic to the security guard after viewing the video and we joined other Nigerians to demand for the resignation of the Chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar, for putting up such abominable and shameful act.
“However, few days later, we read the media interview the victim granted to Premium Times on the same issue. As a matter of fact, the interview does not correspond with the video. Honestly, he is a genius in dishing out tissues of lies.”At that point, we came to the conclusion that being loud doesn’t increase the value or validity of opinion. In fact, often by the very nature of being the loudest, those opinions are typically the furthest from reality.
“And we challenge any Nigeria or professional group to juxtapose the interview with the video clip before jumping into hasty judgement. In the said interview, he claimed that he was slapped six times by Justice Umar and security personnel attached to him, and that was not reflected in the video.”
The group also called on the NBA not to be carried away by public sentiments in its investigation, revealing that the victim who was purportedly hospitalised has been granting media interviews to various media organisations.
“This is the person who is claiming to have been hospitalised for injuries and yet has been granting interviews to media, where is the truth here? Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathon,” Pai’ added.
