Anthony Iwuoma
The Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka has said he ran into trouble with authorities of the Enugu Diocese of the Catholic Church, headed by Bishop Callistus Valentine Onaga, because of the leader of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, whom he prayed for and blessed.
Fr. Mbaka suddenly went missing, on Tuesday, leading to mass protest by his adherents, who also vandalised the Bishop’s house and facilitated his release.
However, he said one of the charges against him was praying and blessing Kanu and also criticising of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said many issues were raised against him prompting the church leadership’s decision to keep him incommunicado at the diocese for 30 days.
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“Are you the owner of my mouth?” he queried. You can’t tell me who to bless? If you are not happy that I blessed someone, you have your own mouth, you can curse the person.
“I cannot hate my brother because of some people who hatred is in their genes,” he argued.
According to him, his request to be allowed to address his members before shutting down was rejected.
He said, “Allow me to go and celebrate Mass for my people just for today; I won’t even tell them that I am being punished, they said, No.
“I will just tell my members that I’m going for 30 days prayer, that after 30 days, we will come back and everybody will obey, they said, ‘No’.
“I also begged them to appoint another priest to come and celebrate Mass for you today, they also said ‘No’. They didn’t treat me in a pastoral way.
“I was asking ‘am I being punished for what’? They said it was a meeting, but even before I reached the Bishop’s house, conclusion has already been made. What happened to me was like the day I was shot on the road.
“Unfortunately for them, even before the meeting, a woman was already going around bragging that the Bishop would call me for a meeting, and that I was going to leave my house here for 30 days, and that after the 30 days, I would be sent to Rome, and Adoration Ministry will be closed.
“In a time and case like this, don’t give me a punishment that will cause troubles for us because I’m not alone.”
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church has sent the activist Fr. Mbaka on 30 days suspension with effect from May 3, 2021.