A pastor, Boniface Etta Agbor, caused the detention of a reporter and Production Assistant of The Post newspaper, Donatus Nyowike, on July 19 at the Gendarmerie Brigade, Tiko, Southwest Region, for an alleged defamatory article published by the newspaper.

Nyowike had been summoned to the Tiko Gendarmerie the previous week, to appear on July 19. On that Tuesday, the unsuspecting Nyowike, who is resident in Bonduma, Buea, took permission from his boss and left for Tiko. Upon arriving at the Gendarmerie Brigade, at about 10.00am, he was held to submit a statement why he defamed the Boniface Etta in the article titled “Another Pastor In Sex Scandal.”

In his statement, Nyowike said the story was investigated by colleagues and based on the facts, he signed it. After the statement Nyowike who was coerced into submitting it, was stripped to his underwear and locked up in the cell.
Thanks to the calls he had made, the authorities of the newspaper zoomed to Tiko and secured his release at about 6.00pm, after eight hours at the Gendarmerie Brigade.

“I went there thinking that it was a personal matter. It is when I arrived there, that they told me it was owed to a story I by-lined in the paper,” Nyowike told colleagues after his “baptism of fire” as such an experience is known in press circles.

In a statement submitted by the Managing Editor of The Post, Bouddih Adams, before securing his reporter’s release, he said his news organ stumbled on documents, including a complaint lodged with the State Counsel of Tiko, by one Nkwen-Tamo Nkemta Ernest, that Pastor Etta had taken his wife, Nkwen-Tamo Pamela, who ceased to respect him and another document, an injunction issued by the DO of Tiko proscribing the activities of Pastor Etta and his World Mission International School of Ministry and Conference within the Tiko Subdivision.

“Based on the documents, we carried out investigations and published the story,” Bouddih stated.

“If Pastor Etta felt aggrieved, he would have followed conventional procedure to the right of response. The Gendarmes had no right to detain my reporter, especially as he respected the summons and presented himself to them.

After recording his statement, they had to let him go home, while they continue with their investigations. If the matter was found to be court-worthy, they should forward it and let us have our day in court,” Bouddih fumed.