Outspoken Catholic priest, Ejike Mbaka, says he cannot stop releasing what he called “prophetic messages” on politicians and elections in Nigeria despite some criticisms against such practice.
Mr Mbaka, who is the spiritual director of Adoration Ministry Enugu, is known for his frequent release of such messages on Nigerian politicians and election-related issues in the country.
No control
Speaking on Monday night while delivering his crossover message for the New Year 2024 at the ministry’s ground in Enugu, the cleric suggested he would not stop because he has no control over such messages.
“I don’t know how it happens to me. I am not boastful of it. It comes to me once in a while. I did not get it through priestly ordination. It has been following me even before I became a Catholic priest,” Mr Mbaka said.
The Catholic priest, who spoke mainly in the Igbo language, argued that, contrary to accusations against him, he does not meddle in politics. He said he only delivers such messages as received from God.
“If I am sent, for instance, to deliver a particular message to (President Bola) Tinubu, nobody can stop it on this earth. I will deliver the message exactly as it was given,” Mr Mbaka said.
Continuing, he said, “If I am instructed to say that somebody will not win an election, even if the person is my blood brother, I will tell him about it privately. But if he doesn’t listen, I will say it publicly so that when it comes to fulfilment, I will not be counted among those who supported a failure because I can never support a failure.
“No matter how you want to understand it or misunderstand it, I do not prophesy because I am an ordained Catholic priest. Even if you ask my classmates in seminary school, I have been like that,” Mr Mbaka said.
The cleric’s comments appeared to be referring to his scathing remarks against the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Mr Mbaka had in June said that Mr Obi would not win the 2023 presidential election because he was a “stingy man,” a remark which caused many Nigerians to criticise the cleric.
The leadership of the Enugu Catholic Diocese, in October that year, directed Mr Mbaka to step down as the spiritual director of his Adoration Ministry in Enugu and proceed to a monastery in Los Angeles, United States as part of a disciplinary measure against him.
The cleric only returned to Nigeria from the US in January 2023 and resumed activities at the ministry.
Not the first time
Although Mr Mbaka’s outburst against Mr Obi generated serious controversies, it was not the first time the cleric would publicly criticise a politician in Nigeria.
Mr Mbaka, for instance, was frequently at loggerheads with the then governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani, between 1999 and 2007.
READ ALSO: EXCLUSIVE: What Catholic Church told Mbaka to do to avoid another disciplinary action
Also, the cleric, in his 2015 New Year Message, attacked the administration of then-President Goodluck Jonathan, in the build-up to the presidential election of that year.
He said President Jonathan would give way for the then All Progressives Congress candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, who later won the election, to become president.
Again, in April 2021, the Catholic priest, a known supporter of President Buhari, in a surprise move, attacked the then-president, asking him to resign or be impeached for “bad governance.”
The presidency fired back at Mr Mbaka, saying the priest was angry because Mr Buhari ignored his request for contracts.
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