Popular Nigerian gospel artiste Nathaniel Bassey has drawn the attention of the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police Force concerning four social media users, for publicly accusing him of being the father to Mercy Chinwo Blessed and Uzochikwa’s son.
Nathaniel Bassey in his letter wrote that he is suing those four persons for defamation of character. The four social media users made this post on ‘X,’ formerly known as Twitter. The screenshots of these posts have been circulating through every social media platform. This rumor started circulating as soon as Mercy Chinwo and her husband Blessed Uzochikwa decided to post the picture of their few months old baby.
The Chief Magistrate, Emmanuel Iyanna, had ordered the four defendants to appear in person before the court on April 23, 2023. These four persons were identified as Okoronkwo Ejike, Kingsley Ibeh, DJ Spoiltkid, and Terrence Ekot.
However, some sources hinted that there were five individuals involved, namely, Okoronkwo Ejike, Kingsley Ibeh, DJ Spoiltkid, Terrence Ekot, and Samuel Agozie.
Mr Ejike’s post read, “This Mercy Chinwo’s child she was hiding after giving birth, but the truth is that this baby looks exactly like singer Nathaniel Bassey. Nothing anybody wants to reason with me oh. This child is Nathaniel Bassey’s Baby. Maybe a secret away match occurred; otherwise, how can we make empirical sense of this.”
Pelumi Olajengbesi, an Abuja based lawyer, filed a criminal complaint on behalf of her client Mercy Chinwo and her husband, where she said “the alleged actions of the defendants amounted to cyber intimidation, injurious falsehood, and cyberstalking targeted at their person. The complainants said “the alleged actions of the defendants are contrary to Section 391 of the Penal Code and Section 24 (1)(B) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015.”
Furthermore, “individuals criminally injured the reputation and image of the complainants across the globe resulting from their intentional defamatory posts and an act of cyberstalking,” the lawyer said in a criminal complaint filed before the magistrate.
A petition submitted to the IGP on 1 April read in parts: “ On Friday, the 29th day of March 2024, Mercy Chinwo Blessed, another popular gospel music minister, and her husband posted pictures of their son and themselves on different social media platforms.
“However, our client was disheartened, saddened, and grossly disturbed to find that the suspects mentioned above, as mischief makers with a criminal intent to destroy the image and character of our client, had made different social media posts of defamatory matter, calling our client ‘the father of minister Mercy Chinwo Blessed’s son,’ a woman who is married to another man.”
The gospel industry is sure not taking this for granted and they are handling this issue legally.
