Journalists under attack as Prophet Divine is bailed

Media professionals investigating the circumstances that led to the arrest and six-day detention of Apostle Divine Chijioke Okafor of the Life Transformers Ministries, LTM, in Buea have come under increasing physical attacks and conditional threats from adherents of the said church.

Jean Calvin, a cameraman working with Mountain Broadcasting Service Television, MBS TV, was brutalised by thugs said to be members of Apostle Divine’s Church.

Sprained limbs, a swollen mouth and a blood-oozing finger is the reward thugs at LTM gave Calvin, says Ngang Elias, Editor-in-Chief of MBS TV.
“I got information that some angry youths were about to burn down Life Transformer Ministry because their self proclaim prophet was arrested the previous night for alleged rape. So I quickly sent Jean Calvin and one reporter (Ashu Joel) to go and investigate and know what was happening around that vicinity,” Ngang narrates.

He says thugs at LTM brutalised his reporters, locked up his cameraman, with Ashu Joel escaping for his life by a slim margin. Calvin is said to have been freed by elements of the Muea police while investigations are ongoing.
The SUN’s staff was also attacked by thugs Wednesday afternoon as he nosed around for an official statement from the church following the arrest of its founding president and apostle. He however escaped on time before the thugs had a field day.

Meanwhile, at about 6:30pm on Friday, Marious Santos Ajongakou, Manager of Chariot Radio and Buea Bureau Chief of The Median Newspaper received a threatening call from someone believed to be an adherent to LTM.

According to the journalist, the threatening call came from 651074956, and the person said the following:
“You are a disgrace to journalism. How could you be so mean to write what you wrote? Don’t bother finding out who I am, I will deal with you”.

As the attacks on media professionals sour, Apostle Divine was granted bail Saturday evening.
About 10pm Saturday, he appeared on LTM TV and boasted that: “…On Wednesday you’ll hear over CRTV and the rest as a sign to show that when God gets involved, things get dissolved. Now it will be everywhere in Cameroon because when the conclusion came from the presidency, we were so surprised.

A small Church now has links with the presidency. No matter how much you squeeze a stone, you can’t get water from it. So they are barely wasting time.”

He was arrested on Monday, February 15, detained at the judicial police in Buea and only granted bail on Saturday, February 20.

He is expected to appear before the judiciary on Monday to face charges levelled against him to include repeated cases of forceful sexual intercourse, sexual harassment, extortion, conditional threats to the legality of his stay and operations in Cameroon.

Apostle Divine during yesterday’s service preached on the theme, “I and the children the lord has given me”.