“I am going to stay in one small room that has only one small bed, one small table, little toilet and bathroom. So where am I going to keep all the adoration assets? My clothing and books I can keep in the car or somebody’s house but where will I keep these assets that I have given to the Catholic church of Enugu? But I say may God take the glory and whoever that has offended me, I have forgiven. I won’t fight anybody or even dream of battling anybody. If anybody allows the devil to use him, the same that advised you to make a mistake will laugh at you when you cry over the error. The baby is born, there is no going back.”
These were the words of fiery catholic priest and former Director of Adoration Ministries, Enugu, as he was escorted out of the Christ the King Parish (CKP), GRA, Enugu to his new parish in Emene, a suburb of Enugu, the Enugu State capital by thousands of wailing followers in an emotion-laden event on Saturday.
Though he did not drop tears himself, but the cleric, believed to have run into troubled waters with the authorities of the Catholic Church recently, for his controversial pronouncements, the latest being his revelation that some people were planning to kill President Muhammadu Buhari, was quickly sent out of his popular Adoration Ministry ground, which hosts millions of faithful on service days.
Mbaka, who waged an epic battle with former Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, who he accused of being responsible for the stampede in one of the worship events in 2001, had booked a place at the national level, when he similarly accused former President, Goodluck Jonathan of plotting to kill him, after he had predicted the ex-President’s fall from office on the eve of 2015.
While at New Year eve prayer session to usher in 2015, the cleric, who had showered praises on the first family during the visit of Jonathan’s wife, not only recanted, but practically took Jonathan to the cleaners, saying he had brought bad luck to Nigeria, and thus, urged Nigerians to see the light in the way of Buhari, who was then a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Apart from revealing the alleged plot against the President, Mbaka, not only hosted Buhari’s wife, Aisha, during her visit to Enugu, but was also a guest of the first family at Aso Rock Villa, in Abuja, a visit, which caused a lot of disquiet and led to public criticisms in certain quarters and calls for adequate punishment from his superiors.
Though the church explained that his eventual transfer was a routine exercise, which affects priests in the diocese in line with its policy to reshuffle them periodically, many believe that it was in line with the discomfiture Mbaka’s conducts had caused the otherwise conservative institution.
In what appeared their reading that their idol was being punished, thousands of Mbaka faithful gathered at the CKP as early as 7.00 am, with hundreds of lorries, buses and cars, lining the streets, in readiness for the trip.
In what some of them described a triumphal exit, many parts of the bubbling city practically stood still, while economic and social activities were at their lowest during the period, owing to human and vehicular traffic.
Amid music blaring from different instruments of the various groups that were also on hand to participate in the event, the priest who had built the parish from the scratch, starting from makeshift structures at the temporary site off Okpara Avenue, took a final look at the imposing structure of his efforts since 1996 Mbaka, and began the four-hour journey to start anew.
But not until an emotional address, which moved many to tears, as he poured out his heart, expressing misgiving on the treatment meted out to him, which he said was calculated to make him suffer by certain leader of the church.
