…He was denied visiting his parents even when in Yola
…Says Zaman was beaten with sticks while on handcuffs in Senator’s Katampe residence
…Zaman’s family are rascals – Sen. Cliff
Since assumption of office as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,  Senator Elisha Cliff Ishaku has made a name for himself albeit for the wrong reasons. It will be recalled that sometime last year, the same Senator was accused and charged to Court for assaulting a nursing mother in a sex toy shop at Abuja.
After widespread  criticism and condemnation,  he subsequently tendered a sober apology to the victim of his assault and all Nigerians, wherein he stated that the episode had taught him a very great lesson, both as a private citizen and a public officer, particularly as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria upon whom public confidence is reposed.
Recent events involving one of his aides, however, showed that the Senator has a temper related problem and is using his office to perpetrate acts of assault, molestation and intimidation of innocent victims and those under his care as employees.
This is evident in the manner the Senator molested his aide, Mr. Zaman Abasiryu, that equally drew bitter reaction from the public on the social media.
The EYEWITNESS investigation reveals that on Monday, June 1, 2020. at about 2 a.m., Mr. Zaman received a call from one of Senator Cliff’s aides asking him to open the gate to the house he was living in on No. 9, Flat 3, Ogun Street, Area 2, Garki, Abuja for some visitors of the Senator who were to pass the night at the said house.
Upon opening the gate, Zaman realized that it was the Senator himself that was at the gate and asked him to surrender his phone and give his password. 
The Senator went on to ransack his belongings and took documents carting away his car key, car particulars, laptop, earpiece, two hard drives and the 2 mobile phones.

Mr. Zaman who was wearing only his boxers, since it was an early morning raid by the Senator, was thereafter handcuffed by the two SARS officers who were brought by the Senator. These SARS officers thereafter took their victim to the Senator’s residence at Katampe, instead of the police station.
There, the Senator asked the two SARS officers to wait outside within his compound. but the boy still in handcuffs to his living room and beat him mercilessly. The Senator used his hands, his legs; he went to the bathroom and used a mop stick to beat his aide. When the mop stick broke, he asked his orderly to get him a stick which he used to continue pounding the helpless boy in handcuffs.
Narrating what transpired to The EYEWITNESS,  the elder brother to the victim, Mr. Ija Abasiryu, said: “Their relationship started when Senator Cliff saw him with his younger brother, Ephraim Lazarus. They were good friends since their university days. Zaman served in Abia state and was retained by the NYSC because he was good in computer operations and he was the one handling most of the works especially during mobilization of Corps members”.
“Cliff has a company called Sais Nig. Ltd in Abuja which at that point had  he lost virtually  all his staff because he was not paying. At that point he started shopping for a competent hand to revive the company and his younger brother Ephraim recommended Zaman for his computer prowess. 
“That was how Zaman was invited to come over from Abia state to Abuja to meet Cliff. They just got started working without formal agreement on remuneration and other conditions of service. It started as an informal engagement between an elder brother and his younger one. Stay in my house, eat your meals there and work for me as my younger brother’s friend.
“My younger brother assumed the position of his personal secretary so they moved around regularly and because Cliff was close to the then Ekiti state Governor,  Ayodele Fayose, they spent long periods in Ekiti state up to the expiration of the governor’s tenure.
“Most times Fayose would ask my brother if he was a personal assistant,  secretary, a driver or an errand boy to Cliff given my brother’s round-the-clock engagement with chores for Cliff. Zaman would drive Cliff from Ekiti to Adamawa,  sometimes in the thick of the night amd the whole family was not comfortable with the development. 
“When electioneering period came around he never cared to inform us the boy’s family, and we felt it was his duty to look for us and inform since he was enjoying Zaman’s services without paying a penny in return.  He had the moral duty to locate the boy’s family at least in show of appreciation and conventional courtesy. Sometimes they will come to Yola and he would deny Zaman coming to even see and greet our parents.
“During the campaigns he didnt step a foot in our local government,  Madagali, we took it upon ourselves to deliver the local government to him since our younger brother was with him. I made a personal contribution of over N700,000 to his campaign.  Since the governor is also from our place and he was then vying for office we told Cliif leave it to us to work for him in Madagali. All he was doing was talking to me on phone to get situation report. I was the one that coordinated his entire election in our local government. 
“Our hope was that since my brother was a graduate who has served him faithfully he would at least secure a decent employment for him, even only to show appreciation.  But we were shocked that till now that I am talking he has neither visited our family to show appreciation or even called on phone to show gratitute.
“But that didnt come as a surprise because his trademark is arrogance and looking down on any one that comes across him. After his vicgory at the polls he visited American University of Nigeria (AUN) here in Yola and saw a native cap which he like and told my brother. My brother informed and I got a seller and obtained two at the rate of N35,000 each amounting to N70,000 and took to him. As I talk to you he has not paid me back my money in addition to the manner he collected the caps from me without saying a word of appreciation under the guise of being so  busy. When I took the caps to him he literally snatched them from my hand and walked away.
“After his inauguration as Senator, my brother continued to discharge all the duties of a personal assistant but he was not on the payroll of the National Assembly rather he placed someone from Michika and started to give my brother N50,000 monthly for his services.
“In October,  2019 he summoned my brother and said his loyalty was in question because he had not been countering his political opponents on the social media. He has not been castigating Governor Fintiri on Facebook. My brother,  Zaman, differed saying it was inappropriate and immature to go on the social media casting aspersions on people. The Senator said: “If that is the case I know how to handle you”. By December he relieved my brother of PA he never was officially apart enormous discharge of works. 
“However,  Senator Cliff said my brother should stay at home until he was assigned any chore to do. Being the vice chairman of the Senate committee on Navy he was given some slots during their recruitment and he gave my brother a slot. We were happy for once at least.  Little did we know eventually that Zaman’s name was replaced with another over what he cited as lack of loyalty.
“Even with that we encouraged him to stick with Cliff not knowing what tomorrow might bring. Before the recent event, my brother had called me saying he wanted to leave and come back to Adamawa state or go back to school for his ICAN programme. 
“On Monday night of June 1, after midnight, he stormed the house my brother was residing at about 2am alongside his orderly,  driver and two other police officers. As soon as he entered he demanded that my brother should surrender all his phones to him, which he complied without argument.  He demanded for his password and was also give. Senator Abbo then asked my brother: “What have you been telling Governor Fintiri about me?” The boy denied any such communication,  the Cliff said he was going to kill him if he would not disclose the co rent of this communications with the Adamawa state governor.  After going through the phone thoroughly he then asked the policemen he invaded the house with to handcuff Zaman.
“At that ungodly hour of the night, they drove Zaman from Garki, Area 2, to Katampe where his personal house is. He was shoved into Cliff’s sitting room and the police officers were asked to wait outside.
“He started beating him while still handcuffed.  As if that was not enough, he hurtled  into the bathroom and took the mop whose stick he shattered on Zaman’s face and back. It  didn’t end there. He ordered a police officer to get a stick which continued to use on the boy until he was tired and realised the boy was bleeding profusely before he stopped.
“The Senator, after inflicting injuries on his victim gave the SARS officers who accompanied him $100 to detain him at their station at Guzape District under his strict supervision. He passed that night there. On Tuesday at about 1:00am, I got a text message saying “I have been beaten up by Cliff and am in detention in SARS officeoffice”.
“I now called the number back only to discover it belonged to a police officer to took pity on my brother’s situation seeing the terrible state he was in. The officer confirmed that my brother was at the station since Sunday night,  brought there by Sen Cliff who told them the boy was leaking his information to a political opponent. 
“Not satisfied with his inability to get any indicting evidence against my brother, Cliff went back to his house and turned it upside down in search of anything incriminating.  He confiscated his credentials,  phones, laptops, storage devices.
“I called him to find out what was going on. He said my brother had betrayed him and would be taught some lessons and asked me to come over to Abuja if I wanted to discuss the issue. I could not go to Abuja immediately because it was at the peak of the Covid-19 lockdown so I asked a friend and some of our relatives to help me out and check on him.
“When they arrived the police office the next day I informed the Senator and he refused to go there and spell out the offence for possible resolution.  They waited till 10:00pm. When we didn’t get the needed cooperation from him I posted the matter on the social media after reaching to some of his close confidants like Rev Iliya Abuwa. At that time, all we were asking was for the boy to be released for medical treatment before we look into the matter.
“When I posted the matter it went viral on the social media and the Senator was heavily criticised and our relatives,  friends and sympathisers started trooping to the station in their numbers.
“When the heat turned on him, he now came forth with his letterhead claiming it was forged by his erstwhile personal Assistant, being my brother, who also forged his signature and purportedly went to the Department of State Security (DSS) in search of job.
“When I looked closely at the said forged letter, I discovered my brother’s name was not even on, non of our relatives, close or distant, were on the list,  neither were there any of his friends or acquaintances.  In fact no one from Madagali local government was on that list.
“Fortunately,  the four names on the alleged letter had corresponding phone numbers so I decided to reach out to all of them. I discovered that the second person on the list is the Senator’s younger brother and present driver, Daniel Matthew.  The fourth person on the list is his sister in-law . The first on list is Nuhu T. Bukawa, from Michika local  government who told me he never applied for DSS was completely oblivious of such a move for a job. I now reached out to the last person. Her name is Lydia Enoch. I initially thought she would be from Mubi only to be told she is from Gombe state and never applied for any job.
“Joe Kyari Gadzama, SAN, who luckily is our in-law now took up the matter and sent his legal team to investigate it. After that they were able to secure bail and got him out of detention. The petitioned the Inspector General’s office.
“Seeing that the matter was gaining momentum,  Senator Cliff called me personally to say my brother,  who was re-arrested by the police would be freed once the petition was withdrawn from the court.  After considering his offer I felt that accepting it would mean acceptance of guilt so I turned it down.
In a petition to the Inspector General of Police with ref: J-K/ABJ/IGP/ZA/PET2/06/20 dated June 9th, 2020 against Sen. Cliff, his orderly Nicholas Dahiru Sule, and two SARS officers for inhuman treatment,  assault,  unlawful detention and threat to the life of Zaman, by J-K GADZAMA LLP on behalf of their client stated that: “The Senator threatened that he would kill our client, including all that were with him, and even went as far as saying that he will ensure our client’s life is wasted”.
“The Senator accused our client of forging his signature and using his letterhead to write the Department of State Services. However, the said letter was found by the Senator in the belongings of one Mr. Ephraim, the Senator’s step-brother and his succeeding Personal Assistant the author of the said letter”.

“The Senator also alleged that our client had exposed his secrets to his political opponents in a bid to destroy his career”.
“Our client was released on bail in the evening of Wednesday, May 3, 2020 at about 4 p.m., after he had spent over two days (approximately 61 hours) in detention. The Senator had orally undertaken at the SARS office to return our client’s documents, car key, car particulars, laptop, earpiece, two hard drives, and the 2 mobile phones, which were in his possession”.

“Upon our client’s release, we proceeded to the Senator’s residence at Katampe and met with the Senator. The Senator however rescinded from his oral undertaking. He refused to return our client’s belongings, which he had taken.”

“Thereafter, our client visited Garki Hospital, where he received treatment for his injuries”.
Addressing the matter in a widely circulated interview recently,  the Senator said Zaman was like a son to him which informed his decision to maintain silence over a long period of time considering that the young man may not be able to take the pressure.
Sounding sober, Sen Cliff said he helped build Zaman and would not be part of anything that would that would destroy what he has spend his time and resources to build.
In a contradictory twist, the embattled Senator called Zaman’s family as rascals who have no love for their son, even as he accused the family of ingratitude to him for the love and care he showered on their son. He said after four years of investing in their son they never cared to call him and show gratitude.
Contrary to Zaman’s elder brother’s claim that the two caps he bought for the Senator amounting to N70,000 were yet to be paid for, in his address the Senator claimed it was a gift.
Senator Cliff said: “The principal character is like a son to me. The magnitude  of the offence he allegedly committed will destroy him for life. “
“The family I am trying to protect are actually rascals, they dont love their son. This boy has been with me for four years” he said, adding that he took care of their son for four years but they never cared to call him and show appreciation.