M’bia denies reports Turkish ministry saved his family from Boko Haram

TRABZON

DHA photo

Trabzonspor’s star summer signing, Cameroonian midfielder Stephane M’bia, has ruled out Turkish media reports that his new club and the Turkish Foreign Ministry helped to save his family from clashes in his hometown in Cameroon. 

“Contrary to the media reports, I’d like to state that my parents and family have often visited me in Europe over the years. This holiday visit has absolutely nothing to do with stories being fabricated in the press,” said the captain of the Cameroonian international team via Twitter. 

“Cameroon remains a stable and peaceful country. It is the place that my family and I call home and where I always go whenever my schedule permits,” M’bia added. 

Some local newspapers in the Black Sea province of Trabzon also outed the reports as fake. 

Turkish media reported last week that the family of M’bia was in safe hands after Trabzonspor requested that the Foreign Ministry bring his relatives to Turkey after a bloody attack on their village by Boko Haram.

“I will not forget your help for the rest of my life,” Haberturk quoted M’bia as saying after learning that his mother, father and two siblings had arrived in Turkey following a rescue operation. 

Cameroon’s M’bia last month moved from Sevilla to Trabzonspor on a three-year contract. 

As around 12,000 Nigerians said to have been expelled from Cameroon after fleeing Boko Haram jihadists have begun returning home, authorities in Abuja said Aug. 5. Jihadists killed at least six people and kidnapped more than 50 in a raid on a village in northern Cameroon, according to a soldier sent to the scene.