A Nigerian broadcaster, Daddy Freeze, has responded to death threats made by David Ibiyeomie, a Nigerian televangelist and founder of Salvation Ministries.
Mr Ibiyeomie threatened to kill the broadcaster if he ever insults the founder of Living Faith Church, David Oyedepo, again.
The cleric made the threat and rained curses on the broadcaster while delivering a sermon at his church headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Sunday.
Daddy Freeze responded to the threats in a video which he posted on his YouTube channel in the early hours of Tuesday.
In his response, he accused the pastor of racism, discrimination, and threat to life. He also said he was “devastated” by the pastor’s video because of the “content” and he went on to reveal why his remarks bothered him a lot.
Defending himself, Daddy Freeze said contrary to Mr Ibiyeomie’s claims, he didn’t insult Mr Oyedepo but simply drew the religious leader’s attention to a portion of the bible.
“Correcting the scripture is not an insult. Christ was criticized, Peter was criticized, Paul was criticized, even the Pharisees were criticized, so there’s no way you’re going to preach a message from the scriptures that you’ll not get criticisms,” he noted.
In his sermon, Mr Ibiyeomie described Daddy Freeze as a non-Nigerian & a Somalian, a statement that has been condemned by many.
Daddy Freeze said the term “half-caste” is “racist” and asked the cleric to apologise to victims of racism.
Daddy Freeze said he found it “devastating that just to get to me, Pastor Ibiyeomie will drag the whole Somalia nation. I’m very proud to associate myself with Somalians because they’re a beautiful people. It is hate speech to undermine them with derogatory words, like there’s anything wrong with the Somalians.”
He also drew the attention of the public and the law enforcement agencies to the threat to his life.
“Pastor Ibiyeomie, I don’t know if you realize that a threat to life is a criminal offence…. If anything happens to me, I hope you know who to hold responsible,”.
In his viral sermon, Mr Ibiyeomie appeared to undermine the broadcasting profession in a bid to justify that Daddy Freeze was being paid pittance as a radio host. This statement also attracted criticisms especially on Twitter.
“You went on again to undermine the noble profession of broadcasting. I’m a proud broadcaster for the last 25 years. I’ve dedicated my life to this beautiful, noble profession. I think you should apologize to every journalist, every broadcaster, for undermining our work,” he noted.
Reacting to being called a “bastard” by Mr Ibiyeomie, Freeze said: “You say I’m not my father’s son. I put it to you to prove who my real father is.”
Criticisms
Mr Ibiyeomie’s remarks have continued to attract mixed reactions from the public on social media.
