Glorious Abel, a staffer of the Rivers State Television (RSTV), has narrated how he was beaten and tortured by U. O. Miracle, founder of the Dynamic Flame of Fire and Miracle Ministries, for making adjustments to a lengthy broadcast programme.

Abel told FIJ that Miracle physically assaulted him with the help of some mobile police officers in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, on October 5.

“I was the broadcast operations supervisor on duty at the media house that night. My role was just to transmit programmes on air,” said Abel.

“On that particular night, the pastor had a programme which was to be aired. When I checked his material, the time duration was 37:30, approximately 38 minutes in media time.

Pastor U.O Miracle

“Normally, in the media, there is a time allotted for every programme. The time allotted for his programme was just 30 minutes, and there was supposed to be another religious programme after the pastor’s.

“What I did to save time was to remove the extra eight minutes so the pastor’s programme could be exactly 30 minutes.”

THE ATTACK ON ABEL

“When the pastor was watching the programme from his house, I think, he didn’t see a particular advertisement. It could be that the advert went off, as the time of the programme was trimmed,” Abel told FIJ

“I didn’t know whether there was indeed an advert in the programme or not, because I was not in charge of previewing programmes. My own focus was just the timing of each programme.”

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Pastor Miracle, who was infuriated by the time trimming, went to the RSTV studio to wait for Abel.

“After a while, when most of my colleagues had gone home, I heard a knock on my protector. When I went outside to check, I saw a strange face that wanted me to come outside, but I declined because it was late,” Abel narrated.

“I couldn’t go outside due to security reasons, since it was way past 9 pm. After declining to meet him, I went back inside to continue my work.”

“After a short while, I heard a couple of more persistent knocks on my protector. This time around, when I went out to check, I found out that it was one of our security guards on duty.”

“I asked him what was wrong and he said our general manager had asked him to pick up something from the reception stand. I offered to help him pick it up then pass it, but he insisted that I just open the door and he would pick up whatever he needed himself.

“Since he was a colleague and guard on duty, I didn’t suspect anything. I just opened the door for him.”

Abel thought he opened the door for a friend and colleague, but he had just played into the pastor’s hands.

“Immediately I opened the door, this guy gave a signal, and before I even realised what was going on, I just saw about five armed men, who I presume were mobile police officers based on their uniform, walking towards me,” Abel narrated.

Glorious Abel

“The next thing I knew, someone just slapped me from nowhere and gripped my shirt. I looked up and saw that it was the pastor.

“When I saw that I was overpowered, I tried to protect myself by running back into the building, as they were trying to pull me outside. I put up a struggle, so the uniformed men started hitting me on the head with the butt of their guns so they could render me unconscious and carry me to God-knows-where.

“They kept on hitting me with their guns until they overpowered me and successfully carried me into their waiting vehicle. The security guard was just looking while it all happened. He didn’t do anything. He was just watching.”

MIRACLE ABDUCTS ABEL, TORTURES HIM

Abel was taken to an unknown destination for further beating and torturing.

“They drove to an unknown location, which I was unfamiliar with, while one of the armed officers kept hitting me. When we got to the unknown place, I saw some people there laying on the floor,” said Abel.

“The next thing the pastor did was to remove my belt. He ordered one of the armed men to hold my legs and another to hold my hands. They pinned me down so I wouldn’t move.

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“Then the pastor started flogging me with my own belt. He flogged me till my belt literally cut in his hands. At that point, I could hardly stay conscious due to the pain.

“Even when my belt was in pieces, he requested for his cane, which he called the ‘Holy Ghost Koboko’, and continued flogging me. Though I didn’t count, the flogging was up to a 100 on my back.

“When he was done flogging me, he threw some money at me in the presence of his boys for treatment. I refused to pick the money, but when he insisted that he wouldn’t let me leave, I had to pick it.”

MIRACLE’S ASSISTANT SPEAKS

After the beatings and torture by the pastor, Abel was returned to his office.

“He ordered his boys to drive me back to my office, but this time, they didn’t drive into the compound. They just dropped me by the roadside close to my office, then asked me to walk across to my building,” Abel recounted.

“I walked back to my building in pain. My general manager was aware of the incident, as it had been reported to him by a colleague of mine who was also at work that night. He even tried calling me after the pastor and his guys took me away, but I wasn’t allowed to use my phone.

“It was when I was dropped off and got back to the office that I had the privilege to narrate the experience to him.”

FIJ attempted to speak with the pastor, but his personal assistant wouldn’t let it happen. On the first try, she said the “man of God” was in a spiritual conference.

On the second try, she said the pastor was in a meeting with some commissioners, and on the third, she denied the pastor’s involvement in the assault.

“No, no, no, he wasn’t the one that flogged anybody. That’s not what happened,” she said in the pastor’s defence.

“Our lawyers and journalists will paste what happened. Whatever you saw or heard is not the truth. The man of God never had issues with any staffer. We are surprised at what is going on.

“The manager of RSTV too has been calling us that he wants to reach the man of God, but he is not around, as he has been fasting. Don’t worry, you will soon hear from the man of God.”

Pastor Miracle was the same man arrested by his local government chairman for flouting COVID-19 restrictions and holding a service for over 100 people during the 2020 lockdown.