Founder and President of Liberty Gospel Church, Calabar, Evangelist Helen Ukpabio, has cried out against what she called 'wicked blackmail' against her person and ministry by a section of the Western media in collaboration with an Eket-based non-governmental organization (NGO).

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Ukpabio said unknown to her, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Channel 04 had carried a report in London on November 12, the night preceding her arrival in London that she promoted the killing of children that were accused of witchcraft in Nigeria.

She told journalists in Calabar that save for God's intervention, she would have been arrested by the police, shot or lynched by a mob that gathered about her after a lady identified her as the Nigerian preacher BBC Channel O4 showed the night before her arrival in London as promoting killing of child witches in Nigeria.

She said the black lady accosted her as she came from the airport to pick a taxi to her hotel and asked whether she was a Nigerian preacher and by name Helen.

When she answered in the affirmative, the lady screamed and asked why she was killing children in Nigeria.

Ukpabio said perplexed and embarrassed by that question, she asked the woman what she meant and she tried to tell her more about the said TV broadcast as an angry crowd gathered.

The woman had said churches in Nigeria's Akwa Ibom State were accusing children of witchcraft and causing parents to drive their kids from home while churches tortured and killed them in the process of deliverance from witchcraft.

She said the lady claimed the TV station said her film, End of the Wicked was the root cause of the accusation of children.

Ukpabio said it was the testimony of a couple that said they had a copy of the said film and that it was the said film that delivered their family from lots of problems. They said the film was a very good one and asked the people to get their copies. "It was then that all the people that gathered and took up arms against me changed their attitude," she said.

Ukpabio said The Guardian of London had earlier on November last year published an article on her person saying, "I preach sermons that endanger the lives of children, teach parents to kill their children and label the children witches. It said I asked parents to bring fat sums of money which I collected to build my house and buy big cars."

The Telegraph had also done similar report without making any efforts to contact her. She said the article was pasted in Google and people were asked to respond.

"They posted horrible comments - all abusing me," she said. She lamented that an arm of BBCand the Guardian of London could stoop so low as to print such lies against an innocent African woman, noting that the storyline of End of the Wicked was not witchcraft, let alone child witch.