A spokesman for Enugu Catholic Priest, Mr. Maximus Ugwoke, has doubted if the BBC story of an alleged beating of its journalists in Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka’s compound was true.
SaharaReporters had gathered that two BBC journalists were attacked on the orders of Mbaka in Enugu on Thursday.
Ugwoke told Vanguard on Thursday evening that he just learnt about the development but has not heard from Mbaka.
He, however, said: “I doubt if it’s true. Fr couldn’t have done that kind of a thing. Is this the first time he granted interviews to journalists?”
BBC, in its report, alleged that it’s three crew members were on Wednesday assaulted by people in Mbaka’s house and under his supervision.
BBC head of Igbo service, Adline Okere, however, insisted the story is true.
She said that even their team’s accompanying priest, Rev Fr Cajethan Obiekezie, was also beaten up because of an earlier interview that Fr Obiekezie had granted BBC, derogatory to Fr Mbaka.
She said the victims, who came from Lagos, were thoroughly beaten, chased out from Enugu and admitted into a hospital.
Mbaka’s spokesman, Ugwoke, however, said: “Well, I just got to hear about the story this evening that they are peddling around. I am not aware that it happened.
” What I am doing now is to find out if such a thing happened until I reach father before I would know if such a thing happened.
“I just went through the story, and I know that father cannot do that kind of a thing, he cannot. Father cannot do that kind of thing. Doesn’t father grant interviews to the press? He cannot do that kind of a thing the way they described it there.”
