- Gospel music star, Nathaniel Bassey reacts to claims of being the father of Mercy Chinwo’s son.
- Through his lawyers, the singer filed a petition against the initiators of the unconfirmed assertion.
Nigerian gospel musician, Nathaniel Bassey has formally requested the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to conduct an investigation and pursue legal action against four individuals whom he accused of engaging in criminal defamation and cyberstalking.
Bassey lodged the petition with the IGP on April 1, 2024, utilizing legal representation from Peter Abraham, Uche Matthew, Gbenga Agunloye, and Anthony Abia.
The individuals in question, identified as Okoronkwo Ejike, Kingsley Ibeh, Terrence Ekot, and Dj Spoiltkid, propagated a rumour stating that Bassey is the biological father of a child belonging to fellow gospel singer Mercy Chinwo, and her husband, Pastor Blessed Uzochikwa.
This unfounded claim gained traction across various social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.
Bassey, through his legal team, implored the police chief to address the petition against the aforementioned individuals to salvage his reputation.
He argued that the damaging nature of their online statements constitutes a severe assault on his character and integrity.
A press release dated today, 3rd April 2024 read:
“PRESS STATEMENT
This statement is to address the grossly offensive and annoying falsehood that was posted, shared, and circulated on social media by certain persons with criminal intent to defame, damage, and assassinate the character of Pastor Nathaniel Bassey (“our client”).
You may recall that on the 29th day of March, 2024, one Mr. Okworonkwo Ejike made a publication via his Facebook page where he said thus.
“this is the true face of Mercy Chinwo’s child she was hiding after giving birth but the truth is that this little baby look exactly like singer Nathaniel Bassey. Nothing anybody wan reason me oh, this child is Nathaniel Bassey’s Baby, just maybe there was a secret away match that occurred otherwise how can we make empirical sense of this.”
This is not just a casual post, but a post made with audacity and an authoritative accusation against the reputation of our client. The author also attributed the paternity of Mercy Chinwo’s son to our client. This reckless post, which has now been reposted and commented on by certain individuals and bloggers, is capable of damaging the hard-earned reputation and ministry of Pastor Nathaniel Bassey. We believe that the post was released maliciously with the intent to criminally defame our client and cause injurious damage to his person.
As a result, we have initiated legal steps against the originators and distributors of the posts and other persons who have made other reckless statements and videos in that regard to the appropriate authorities for decisive action.
Our laws in Nigeria have covered and provided sanctions in cases where criminally intended statements, made against individuals or property (tangible or intangible), are capable of causing irreparable damage and injury to the character and reputation of that individual or property to which this case falls.
Our client will be exploring all the options and remedies available to him under the law against the persons to whom our legal actions are directed.
It is also important to state that social media is not a loose environment without caution, and everyone is responsible for every statement and comment made either by way of words or videos.
The list of persons submitted to the authorities in our petition is not exhaustive, and our team is
scanning through other posts to identify those that may be culpable in order to bring them to
justice.
Thank you.”
See more below:
His Legal team petitions IGP over defamation pic.twitter.com/VNNTPfVqI2
— GistReel.Com (@GistReel) April 3, 2024