Father Ejike Mbaka has been accused of assaulting a team of BBC journalists who visited his residence for an interview on Wednesday December 9.
BBC journalists Chioma Obianinwa and Nnamdi Agbanelo, as well as their driver, Ndubuisi Nwafor, were accompanied by another Catholic priest, Father Cajethan Obiekezie and his assistant, Solomon Orakam during the vist to Father Mbaka’s Adoration Ministry at around 10:00 local time.
They reportedly moved to Father Mbaka’s home in Emene town after the church service to conduct the interview at around 17:00.
The publication reported that the journalists who were waiting in the car after one Father Obiekezie went to talk to the popular Catholic Priest, were suddenly surrounded by about 20 men who seized their equipment and threatened to kill them for writing “negative reports about Mbaka”.
One of the journalists, Obianinwa said;
“Mbaka asked us to wait until the end of the programme for the interview. The men outside his house said BBC Igbo writes negative things about Mbaka and started beating Nnamdi, Solomon and Ndubuisi. They gave them heavy blows on their heads and all over their body.
The BBC reporter further said that Father Mbaka and Father Obiekezie came out of the house when they heard the noise and that Father Mbaka faced her and started poking his fingers in her face, calling her “satanic”.’
“This fired up the men to continue the attacks as Father Mbaka continued shouting and abusing us. He asked his men to seize our phones and cameras. They said they would kill us and nothing would happen. They removed my wig and tried to strangle Nnamdi. Father Obiekezie was telling them to stop but they attacked him too and seized his phone.”
Obianinwa said the attacks stopped when she screamed that “the world would know that they were killed in Mbaka’s house”.
She added;
“At this point, Father Mbaka asked us to leave before his men killed us. He asked them to return our equipment and they chased us out of the compound. His men trailed us till we left the state to seek medical assurance and police help.”
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
