Posted by By BRADY CHIJIOKE NWOSU on
Any one in doubt about the power of the media should learn a big and unforgettable lesson from the Rev. King saga that broke out on July 22, 2006.
Any one in doubt about the power of the media should learn a big and unforgettable lesson from the Rev. King saga that broke out on July 22, 2006.
The media is used in shaping and influencing the court of public opinion because it dictates what we read, hear and see. This all-powerful institution was used wrongly against Rev. Kingsley Emeka Ezeuko, also known as Rev. King, the General Overseer of Christian Praying Assembly (CPA), Ajao Estate, Lagos.
The is corollary in his condemnation before the court of public opinion and finally his outright sentence to death by a Lagos high court on January 11th, 2007 over allegation of setting his members ablaze. When this issue of setting four of his members ablaze on July 22, 2006, broke out, the victims initially confessed King's innocence but later, they started speaking from the two sides of their mouth by making contradictory and incoherent statements. Nobody cared or was interested to hear Rev King's version. The hue and cry of every one was 'take him away and crucify him."
It seemed it was this mindset that everybody, including the bench, had when he was charged for murderer following the death of one of the victims, Miss Ann Uzuh. As the trial was going on, apart from the biased reporting, feature articles were churned out to paint him black as prelude to nailing him.
In the bible, the omniscient God knew that Adam and Eve had sinned yet He decided to still hear from them. For Rev King, the public having been brainwashed by the media, was not interested in hearing from him.
Before the trial proper, the media had been able to send out one-sided information to the public upon which the public laid in judgment that he was guilty. Ann and the other victims at first told the doctor of the hospital they were taken to that, it was a generator accident. The victim also told the police at their initial statements that it was a generator accident. After what seemed some external influence, they later retracted the statements and said it was no longer generator accident that it was Rev. King that poured petrol and set them ablaze. This incongruent statement is a fact the public never considered in arriving at judgment.
Let me ask this question: In your own imagination, do you think it could have been possible for one individual to pour petrol on four people at a time and then go out to look for lighter without these people running away for their lives? It is all lies! Were they tied to a stake? No! Everyone has survival instinct and this instinct becomes aggressive in the face of danger. That is why somebody can scale a 12 feet wall to safety when he is under threat when ordinarily he can not jump a six feet wall. Yet we're made to believe that petrol was poured on Ann and the others and they were there enjoying till their assailant came back and ignited them with the lighter. This is a tissue of lies which should not be taken seriously by any right thinking person.
As a prophet, a year before his ordeals, he predicted that some of the members would instigate public uproar against him and that negative stories would be reported about him in the media. He saw it coming and he even warned those that would be used as instrument against the church.
What is curious, however, is the hasty manner the murder trial was conducted and death sentence slammed on the reverend gentleman. The wheel of law grinds slowly in other sane and developed clime but in Nigeria when the wheel of law actually grinds at all, it is very slow, and most times, eventually grinds to a halt.
A high profile murder trial was concluded within three months. Yes, there is no time frame that any such trial must constitutionally take, it always depends on the pace of the prosecution, the defence and even the trial judge, but to we laymen, it is still curious that trial was completed, and sentenced passed, so quickly. Even a layman knows that a murder trial is a life and death matter and when there is an established doubt against the suspect, a death sentence is far from consideration. In the case of Rev King, we thought there was an avalanche of doubts. But the courts know these issues better. So, he was sentence to death.
Even cases of burglary in our courts stay for years without conclusion. Two months before the judgment on Rev King, a lawyer friend and well known political figure in Nigeria informed me that a death verdict was to be hanged on the man of God. This means the plan or script to nail him had been written and rehearsed before the judicial process started. But he did not say the judge was in the picture of the set up. So, I guess, something went wrong in the articulation of Rev King's case to make such judgment possible.
I have known Rev. King for many years when he was growing up as a kid. He came from a middle class family. His uncanny love for Christ started from his infancy as his thoughts, talks and actions were centered on Jesus Christ. His prophetic anointing and unusual spiritual fervour stand him out and have amazed and driven his colleagues green with envy. This is one of the reasons he is suffering today. He is holy and celibate and not a sex machine.
He is a victim of organized conspiracy unleashed against Pentecostalism in Nigeria. He is passing a process that will authenticate him and his ministry in the eyes of humans. He has been my friend before the establishment of Christian Praying Assembly. His admittance in flogging people in the church is a corrective measure. I don't see anything wrong with this.
Christ did the same to people that turned the temple of God to place of immorality. The book of Hebrews highlights that Jesus Christ is a compassionate High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, the prince of Salam. Rev. King's prophetic quality is evidently in the same order with Moses and Elijah and is a priest sent to this generation. He belongs to the lineage of the prophets of old that never committed adultery or fornication so as not to wreck their ministries.
We are not to speak evil against the Lord's anointed, but many Nigerians have spoken evil of that man of God and should by now be asking God for forgiveness.
The huge misconception people have about Rev King and CPA is unfounded. Instead of seeking clarification or praying for discernment, they are condemning. Rev King has appealed the judgment of the lower court. Victory will be his at the appellate court