Well known Catholic cleric, Ejike Mbaka has defended himself subsequent to being blamed for assaulting BBC journalists. himself after being accused of attacking BBC reporters.
While the writers, Chioma Obianinwa and Nnamdi Agbanelo claimed that they were assaulted by Mbaka and a few men at his residence over a “negative” reportage about the minister, Maximus Ugwuoke, representative of Mbaka’s service affirmed that the correspondents who they thought were professional killers were assaulted for furtively recording the day’s service program.
Ugwuoke demanded that Mbaka didn’t welcome the BBC group and was informed of their essence at the scene.
He was quoted saying by Vanguard;
We make haste to state that the report was a carefully crafted mendacious narrative calculated to tarnish the image of Fr Mbaka who in his amiable nature could not have done or directed any of those alleged acts of assault on the BBC team or anyone as alleged against him.
“An eye witness account of what happened reveals that one Fr Obiekeze (Cajetan) who estranged himself from the ministry and made a viral video with BBC recently abusing Fr Mbaka and his perceived romance with President Mohammadu Buhari, came to join Fr Mbaka at the altar during his last Wednesday’s weekly ministry programme”.
Unknown to anyone in the ministry, the said priest came with some persons with an unknown identity who were secretly recording the day’s ministry programme until they were accosted by the ministry security suspecting them to be assassins on a surveillance mission. The said ministry security seized the equipment of the strange fellows and sought to know their identities.
Later in the evening after Fr Mbaka was through with the programme and retired to the parish house to continue his consultation with worshippers waiting to see him, altercations between the fellows and the security men at Fr Mbaka’s parish house drew Fr Mbaka’s attention to them and his timely intervention helped to save the situation.
Fr Mbaka was surprised when the unknown fellows identified themselves as coming from BBC with Fr Obiekezie. Surprised by such obvious betrayal and stage-managed visit from a fellow priest, Fr Mbaka directed that every of their seized equipment be returned to them and made sure no one hurt either the priest or the unknown visitors he surreptitiously came with.
“Fr Mbaka nor the ministry never invited the said BBC team to the ministry neither was Fr Mbaka nor the ministry notified of their presence by anyone as alleged.”
