Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, has denied claims by former World Boxing Cruiser-Weight champion, Bash Ali that his security personnel brutalized him for demanding to see him (Dalung).
Dalung has described Ali’s claim as unsubstantiated and untrue.
Recall that Ali had alleged that the security operatives attached to the Minister hit his head with his rifle and also kicked him in the ribs, causing him to lose consciousness.
But in a swift response, the Special Assistant on Media to the minister, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, spoke on behalf of the Minister, saying Dalung did not order security operatives to beat Ali.
He told the Punch, “Ali came to see the Minister and was told to wait at the minister’s waiting room with the 10 people who accompanied him.
“Bash Ali barricaded the entrance to the office of the minister with the men who accompanied him as he questioned why the Hungarian Ambassador to Nigeria, Prof. Gabor Ternak would be allowed to see the minister while he, who came earlier, was not given access.
“The uniformed security tried to persuade Alli and his men to leave the minister’s secretary’s office but to no avail.
“The boxer who was carrying a file and mobile phone carefully went to the secretary’s table to drop his valuables and then fell flat on his back across the doorway.
“Bash Ali was neither touched, shoved nor manhandled by security operatives of the minister.
“He feigned that he had been beaten up but we challenge him to produce physical evidence of assault, gun handle bumps, and bruises, swelling or otherwise as being presented to the public.
“He has a record of such antics following his despair to defend a world boxing title at over 60.
“In 2013, he alleged that he was beaten up by security operatives of the then Minister of Youth and Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.
“In 2015, the WBF cruiser weight boxing champion was detained in Kuje prison following an altercation with the MD of a bank over funds for his title fight,” the Minister’s aide added.
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