By Adesina Soyooye
“Anybody who will stop people from worshipping here will regret it. I am the Servant here”
By Adesina Soyooye
The stage is set for what could be an epic battle between the the Leadership of the Catholic Church, Enugu, and one of its Priests, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka.
Back from a forced 30-day retreat meant for him to search his soul, Mbaka in his first service to the congregation at the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Nigeria, AMEN, broke all the instructions given to him by the Catholic Bishop of Enugu, His Lordship Callistus Onaga.
Fr. Mbaka not only dared the Bishop, he chided the Catholic Church, and stopped short of asking the Bishop: “What can you do?”
Fr. Mbaka is the Founder and Spiritual Director of AMEN, which boasts of a congregation clearly sold on him, and seems more loyal to him than the Catholic Church.
Mbaka built his fame on his claims to being a Seer, and a Prophet. He is at home with Politicians and makes mostly political predictions.
A good number of his predictions and what he says became so controversial that they made the Church uncomfortable.
Politicians flocked his Ministry, and his Church, became unarguably, the richest Church in that part of the country.
A rabid supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari and his Government, Mbaka, however, fell out with the Presidency when he recently made an astonishing about-turn, accused Buhari of bad governance and asked him to resign from office, failing which he asked the National Assembly to impeach him.
The Presidency dismissed him as a Contractor-Priest, revealing in a statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, that he turned against Buhari because the President did not give him contract.
Mbaka did not deny. He said it was not personal; that all he did was to introduce three foreign contractors to the President who were capable of helping Nigeria security-wise. Not a few people found his explanation untidy.
Embarrassed, Bishop Onaga made to call him to order by asking him to shut-down AMEN for 30 days, and go on a Spiritual retreat. But Mbaka wouldn’t have it.
On the day he went to see the Bishop, and was kept for one day, members of his congregation embarked on a violent protest, destroying both the Cathedral and the Bishop’s Court.
On coming out, he did not condemn the violence, instead, he applauded them for their action, an action which the Catholic Church saw as a sacrilege.
The Bishop declared a seven-day fasting period.
A few days later, a contrite Mbaka apologised to both the Church and the Bishop. Finally, he embarked on the forced Spiritual retreat, a polished way to say he was on a 30 day suspension.
A day to his resumption a couple of days ago, the Bishop read the riot act in a letter addressed to him.
Mbaka was banned from political predictions and prophecies for political offices. No more politics from the Pulpit. AMEN was also reduced to a Chaplaincy, and brought under the supervision of the Bishop, even though Mbaka was still left in charge. But, it was made clear to him that he was like any other Priest and could be transferred out, and another posted to the Chaplaincy.
However, in his first full service, Mbaka defied all those.He said he would never shut -up, and lamented that the Church has been so cowed down it has become a Lilliputian.
He hinted that there was connivance with Security agencies to get him out of the way, but he described the thought of it as dangerous. “Who are they looking for. A dead man? I have been dead since 1995”, He declared.
Mbaka: “I got a call that the DSS people from Abuja came here (Enugu) with a letter of invitation to Abuja. Over what? What I cannot understand is that the Mother-Church in Nigeria should be “cowed down” to Lilliputian.
“The Church is a lion and lamb. The Bible says if the foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do. Every Priest is a Prophet and a King. We must protect the sheep.
“In this time, when killings are every day story, when there is hunger everywhere, people do not have hope again. The only hope I have is God. Anybody who will stop people from worshipping here will regret it.
“I am the servant here. They don’t understand history. I spoke against Abacha. I went to Minna to tell Babangida what was wrong in his time. I spoke to Obasanjo face to face. I perform under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I ministered to the late President Yar’Adua. I am being used by a higher being called the Holy Spirit.
“If they are attacking me here and there, no wahala (no problem). The Bible says if God is for us, who can be against us? Only God can be God. I heard the security people (in his Church)did not accept the letter. They asked them to come on Monday to give me the letter.
“If they know the anointing here is too hot for them, let them change. I will not keep quiet.”
It is not known what step the Church will take, Mbaka having defied its authority. But many are of the opinion that he could resign, or push the Church into taking a drastic action against him.
It is, also, not known if the DSS would still invite him or not, or why he is being invited.
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