By Uche Mbah
The man of God has, again, gone back to his vomit, 360 degrees, as he did during the President Goodluck Jonathan’ Administration.
The Man of God in question is Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, the controversial Catholic Priest, and founder of the Adoration Ministry.
Mbaka was one of the staunchest supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari. He was one of Buhari’s Seers. The man who saw tomorrow for Mr President. He was the one who dragged the Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Danguje, a Muslim, into the Church, the Adoration Ministry Centre, when he went to represent President Muhammadu Buhari, who was then, looking for an endorsement for his second term in office.
Mbaka gazed into his crystal ball and said that the Holy Ghost had since sanctified Buhari’s victory. The President went on to win, as seen by Fr. Mbaka.
What Mbaka did not see, however, is the situation Nigeria is, now, under President Buhari. He did not see the turmoil ahead. He did not see the hunger. He did not see the anger. Nor did he see that Boko Haram would be emboldened, and give birth to the twin babies named Bandits and Rogue Fulani Herdsmen. Indeed he saw nothing but the glory of God as he desperately begged the President’s representatives to tell him to come and do something for his Church. He did not see the flame both Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho would become. He did not see the destruction ahead, Or that according to Abubakar Sani Bello, Governor of Niger State, that Boko Haram would be a striking distance to the capital city, Abuja. Mbaka said he was being persecuted because of Buhari. But he never said how.
Now, things are no longer the same. Mbaka has made a shocking u-turn. He has turned against President Buhari.
In a surprising statement, the controversial Mbaka asked the President to resign from office. Otherwise, the Father says, the National Assembly should impeach Mr President. Why?
Mbaka cited the high level of insecurity in the country as his reason for his volte face.
Speaking at the Adoration Ministry in Emene, Enugu State he expressed surpise that Buhari could maintain “conspiratorial silence” despite the incessant killings in the country. For that, he insists Buhari should resign or be impeached. He has left the country shephardless, Mbaka thundered.
“Let me tell you, if it is in a civilized country, by now, President Buhari would have resigned with what is happening”, Mbaka said.
Mbaka; “Nigerians are crying because there’s no security in the country, the House of Representatives should impeach the President if he doesn’t want to resign.” He, obviously, forgot the role of the Senate in the impeachment of a President.
He threatened the Legislators, saying they cannot imagine what will happen to them if they fail to impeach Buhari.
Saddened by the activities of the herdsmen which has gone on unchecked, Mbaka warned Church leaders and Nigerians not to come after him because he supported Buhari earlier.
”A good coach cannot watch his players to be defeated when he has players sitting down on the bench. It is either Buhari resigns by himself or he will be impeached.
”This statement is too mysterious and supernatural. I know many people will begin to fight it, saying did you not pray for Buhari? Did Samuel not anoint Saul? Am I the creator of Buhari? God created him, Nigerians supported him because he did well sometime.
“But now, how can people be dying and the Chief Security Officer of the country will be sitting down without making any comment? Gunmen attacking people everywhere.
“I pray that the Church leadership will understand me as a messenger of God and not begin to attack me because the danger is going to affect the Church.
“When gunmen begin to strike inside the Church, they will begin to kill one man of God or the other or even members of the Church. Who will go to Church again? The Priests will lose their job, the Bishops will lose their jobs. So you better keep quiet or support what I’m saying,” Mbaka added.
But Nigerians say; this is Mbaka all over again. Same character. No change. And Nigerians are laughing him to scorn, wondering why he made this u-turn. They ask if the President and his wife, and their close associates have stopped picking Mbaka’s phone calls, or taking everything he says: hook, line and sinker.
That will not be a surprise.
In the months leading to the 2015 Presidential election, Mbaka turned against Jonathan because he said then First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, was not picking his calls; that instead of giving him her direct number, Mrs Jonathan asked her aides to give him the numbers that the aides pick. “I never got to speak to her”, Mbaka said, “her aides kept turning me round and round.” Because of that, he turned against Jonathan.
He is, also, allegedly, doing the same to Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, now. When most people lost every hope in Uzodinma becoming the Imo Governor, Mbaka kept faith. He backed him, and said he would be Governor. He prophesied it. It happened. Uzodinma became Governor. Before Uzodinma stepped into Government House, Owerri, Mbaka went ahead of him to sanctify the Governor’s office.
This other day, he, reportedly, cried out against Governor Uzodinma, disclosing that the Governor had stopped picking his calls.
What is it about Mbaka and phones?, people are asking.
In the Buhari case, Nigerians are aghast at the Priest’s change of tone. And, even though he forbade them from coming after him, most commentators treated his comments with deserved disdain.
Reno Omokri, a former aide to Jonathan, has this to say in a tweet. “Father Mbaka is an author of confusion. Today, he is calling on General @MBuhari to ‘resign or be impeached’.
“In 2015, he told Nigerians that God told him Buhari was Nigeria’s saviour.
“If the @CatholicEW Church doesn’t defrock this man, he will rubbish their name.”
Not a few Nigerians are of the same opinion. They say the man has made nonsense of his calling, and ask: Is the Catholic Church afraid of one of its own – Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka? Perhaps.
