RV. Mbaka spoked on his aledge sidening of Buhary

REVEREND Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka has
earned the sobriquet, “controversial and
vocal priest.” But he doesn’t court it; he
claims that his utterances are guided by
the Holy Spirit and in the latest pitch
between him and the First Family, his
supporters have rallied to his defense
chorusing, “take the message and spare
the messenger.”
Those who claim to know him “very
well” insist, “there is nothing that is
strange that he is doing. He has always
been an advocate of the truth.” They say
that it is part of his “calling” to ensure
justice in the society as well as liberate
the people. His altercations with
government, politicians and leaders of
society have lacked decorum, and in the
end lives have been lost, with prophecies
not being fulfilled.
But the Adoration Ministry of Enugu
Nigeria continues to grow. The crowd
that gathers at the Emene grounds every
Friday night will make any serious
politician green with envy. Fr. Mbaka, the
Ituku-Ozalla, Awgu Local Government,
born priest, continues to reap the crowds,
the souls and the controversies. “He is
not new to it,” said one of the adorers, (a
member of the adoration family).
Sometimes, his interventions know no
boundaries, as he rages from Enugu to
Imo to Abuja, seeking perceived truants
and misdemeanors.
It was as if he was destined to fight
politicians. Barely before the anointing oil
would dry on his forehead after his
ordination, he latched on one-time
military administrator of Enugu State, Col
Mike Torey, accusing him of corruption.
In a homily at the Holy Ghost Cathedral,
with the Torey in attendance, Fr. Mbaka
admonished Torey and his cabinet, and
charged Torey to change to “enable God
be merciful to him.” The administrator
had commissioned a road whose bridge
was said to cost several millions of
naira. A few months after, the bridge
collapsed.
The late Sani Abacha was not spared.
And for his criticisms, Mbaka received
several threats to his life; but he was not
deterred.
Between 1999 and 2007, he engaged
former governor of Enugu, Dr Chimaroke
Nnanami, in a battle, which claimed the
lives of several adorers. His grouse? He
could not tolerate Nnamani’s style of
leadership, which according to him,
“lacked a human face.” And for this, he
devoted his adoration messages and
prayers to Nnamani. At one service, he
was reported to have told his
congregation to face and point their
fingers in the direction of the Government
House as Holy Ghost fire was poured on
the Government House.
Mbaka branded Nnamani’s administration
a “terror regime, as a result of the extra
judicial killings, sack of workers and other
forms of injustices meted to certain
persons in the society.”
It got to the point where 14 persons
were killed during one of the nights at the
GTC Adoration ground and Mbaka pointed
towards the government of the state.
Government had quickly closed down the
adoration centre, but despite all that
came his way then, it never deterred the
ministry, which later relocated to the
Christ the King Parish. He declared a
fatwa on Nnamani, but he (Nnamani) is
still alive.
Nnamani’s successor, Sullivan Chime, a
perceptible offshoot of the previous
administration also was hit. Chime’s sin
was that perhaps because he was a
beneficiary and member of that terror
regime. Chime, who brought back a horde
of sacked workers, also Mbaka’s wrath
when he refused to pay the recalled
workers the backlog of unpaid salaries.
Mbaka latched on him, promising him hail
and brimstone, and that “he will not
return for a second term.” Incidentally,
the governor will hand over in May after
completing his full term in office.
The story is still told of how Fr.
Mbaka almost caused the collapse of a
first generation bank in Enugu. He had,
according to reports, obtained a loan
from the bank to buy some machines for
his industry. It turned out that the
machines were faulty and didn’t become
functional prior to the maturity of the
loan. The bank came calling. And Mbaka
raged at them. At the next adoration, he
called on the adorers to “go and
withdraw their money from that bank. It
is bad bank,” among other attacks. Of
course, there was a rush at the bank until
God probably intervened to save the bank
from collapse.
Mbaka campaigned against the re-
election of then Governor of Imo State,
Ikedi Ohakim in 2011 after his aides
reportedly assaulted a Catholic Priest,
Eustace Okorie. He told his congregation
not to vote Ohakim who lost the election
to Rochas Okorocha. Last year however,
he made a volte face, when he declared
that Okorie confessed to him that Ohakim
never assaulted him.
At the Christ the King adoration ground,
which was attended by Ohakim and his
supporters, Mbaka regretted the
propaganda that might have scuttled the
reelection of Ohakim, which he blamed on
selfishness of the former governor’s
aides. He stated that his investigations
showed that Ohakim “didn’t beat any
priest,” stressing that it was an
orchestrated falsehood and blackmail
propagated to scuttle his reelection bid.
He admitted that he made efforts to
reach Ohakim when the issue broke out
but was prevented by his aides. But
having had the opportunity to hear from
him, he declared Ohakim innocent.
He said: “I am saying this after listening
to Ohakim’s version and that of the priest
involved and discovered that the
allegation was false. It then behooved on
me, as a servant of God, to make my
findings public and declare the former
governor innocent.”
On his face off with Ohakim’s
successor, Governor Okorocha he was
quoted as saying: “After the blackmail
and falsehood that Ohakim assaulted a
Catholic priest, the man who benefited
from the whole thing is now dealing with
the people as well as destroying the
state. Even our archbishop in Owerri is
now crying.
“Could you imagine that our cathedral
in Owerri is almost collapsing and what
this man (Rochas) could do was to give
the church a N50 million dud cheque. As I
am speaking now, Rochas is dealing with
the people. In fact, that man is not a
blessing to ndi Imo and I wonder the
kingdom he came from.”
The Imo government denied issuing
any dud cheque to the church and noted
that: “It is important to also state that
since the false claim on the N50 million
dud cheque did not come from the
Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese,
Anthony Obinna, or from any of the
priests of the archdiocese, it becomes
reasonable for us to make do with our
candid denial. But honestly, it calls for a
lot of concern when a priest, a well-
known one for that matter, begins to feed
innocent flocks with induced lies.”
Meanwhile, the Director of Social
Communications of the Owerri Catholic
Archbishop, Fr. George Nwachukwu, said
the archdiocese did not issued any official
statement on the matter and that it was
not the responsibility of Mbaka to speak
on behalf of the archdiocese, as he was
neither a spokesman of Archbishop
Obinna nor a priest in the diocese.
On December 31, Mbaka told his
congregation that gathered at the end of
year adoration service why they should
not support the reelection bid of President
Goodluck Jonathan. He told the
congregation: “Listen, when you go home,
tell anybody you see that from the oracle
of the Holy Spirit, we are announcing
change. Can somebody help me shout
change in Jesus holy name…“I’m not
saying that Goodluck is a bad man. He is
a good man. But he cannot lead Nigeria.
As things stand right now, from the
oracle of the Holy Spirit, Jonathan should
honourably resign quietly and let Nigeria
be. The destiny of Nigeria is greater than
Goodluck Jonathan. The Goodluck in
Jonathan has become a bad luck to
Nigerians. Whatever brought him in
should send him back and let Nigeria be.”- THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER