Controversial and fiery cleric, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, needs no introduction, either in the religious or political circuit – at least in Nigeria.
Months back, the Catholic Diocese of Enugu banned Mbaka from commenting on political issues and suspended activities in his ministry.
Founded in 1998, the Adoration Ministry led by Mbaka has a strong appeal to the thousands of devotees who throng its confines for both spiritual healing and Mbaka’s controversial political pronouncements from the pulpit.
Several attempts to curtail his perceived excesses by the church authorities have failed woefully. Buoyed by the strength of his following and the financial war chest of his ministry, Mbaka carried on unperturbed.
In the wake of his recent vituperation against the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, however, the Catholic Diocese of Enugu removed him as the spiritual director of the Adoration Ministry days after the church leadership lifted a three-month-old ban on the ministry.
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Mbaka, during his weekly service in June, had said Obi would not become president of Nigeria in 2023 because he is a stingy man. This embarrassed the Catholic authorities, especially as the Bishops had last year in Enugu warned priests against making such utterances on the pulpit.
Mbaka later apologised to Obi, in a viral video, stressing that he never meant to ridicule him. But he later claimed to have apologised under duress because his Bishop asked him to do so.
Consequently, another clergy of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu, Rev. Fr. Anthony Amadi, was posted to take charge of the Adoration Ministry thus infuriating church members, who protested the church’s decision to transfer Mbaka to the monastery.
Although he has appealed to his followers to stop the protest, stressing that he recommended his replacement to head the ministry while he is away ‘in solitude,’ his loyalists are barely pacified.
Whether it is a case of witch-hunt or a plot to take over the adoration ground as Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) alleged, the bottom line remains that the dust raised by controversial cleric may take time to settle.