Posted by Samuel on Wed 29th Jun, 2022 - tori.ng
The group which called for the immediate re-opening of the Adoration Ministry said its closure was like a time bomb and therefore warned that any further delay in re-opening the ministry could spell doom.
According to a report by SaharaReporters, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide (OYC), a youth wing of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has alleged that the ban on Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka’s Adoration Ministry in Enugu State is as a result of gang up and conspiracy against the cleric to take over everything he has laboured for in life.
The group which called for the immediate re-opening of the Adoration Ministry said its closure was like a time bomb and therefore warned that any further delay in re-opening the ministry could spell doom.
Recall that SaharaReporters had reported how Mbaka’s Adoration Ministry was shut down by the Catholic Diocese of Enugu after Mbaka attacked the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi in one of his ministration where the cleric called Obi “a stingy man” who can never be Nigerian president because “he is cursed.”
But the parishioners of Mbaka’s Adoration Ministry did not accept the ban and staged a protest against the bishop of the Enugu Catholic Diocese, Bishop Callistus Onaga with a man identified as Elijah seen in a viral video threatening to kill the Bishop.
However, Mbaka earlier disassociated himself from the protest and said Elijah had mental issues and that he (Mbaka) would never be part of any plan to harm Bishop Onaga.
Meanwhile, in a statement signed by its National President, Okwu Nnabuike and the Secretary, Obinna Achionye and made available to journalists, the OYC warned that the prolonged closure of the Adoration Ministry would be dangerous.
According to the group, they had been making efforts to calm down raging parishioners and that it would be difficult to hold them for too long before they got out of hand and caused more problems.
The Youth Council group which alleged that the closure of the Adoration Ministry was a deliberate plot to frustrate Mbaka out of the ministry said that “instead of being an upper room ministry which is what it is, like the Ebube Monso Ministry and the Catholic Prayer Ministry, Elele, Mbaka’s own has now been converted into a chaplaincy.”
The group claimed that “Our information revealed that there is a serious gang up and conspiracy against Fr. Mbaka, in addition to plans to take over everything he has laboured for in life, with a view towards crippling his source of magnified charity to the poor masses and send him out to overseas for further studies after 28 years of his priestly ordination.”
Claiming that they have found out that there are plans by the Enugu Catholic Diocese to build a seminary at the Adoration ground, OYC said that “if actually it is about Peter Obi, Fr. Mbaka has even apologised for his statements, and we had expected the Church authorities to forgive him in line with Biblical injunctions. After all, what he said was a prophecy, the right thing was to pray against it.”
The group also said the person who threatened to kill Bishop Onaga in the viral video was a known mentally unstable person and as such, no one should lose sleep over “his ranting.”
The Ohanaeze Youth group therefore appealed to Bishop Onaga “to consider the numerous people Fr. Mbaka puts food on their table every day. We are saying this because should they take to the streets, it would be difficult to control them. In fact, the situation is just a bomb waiting to explode. We have been talking to them but we don’t know how long we can hold them.”
According to the group, “This is a man who takes care of over 25,000 persons either by direct employment or charity interventions. Such a person should not be treated with levity.
“The Church should learn to practise what they preach on forgiveness. The Bible told us that forgiveness could be as much as 70 times 70. So, since the priest has apologised, the Church should look at the bigger picture and forgive him.”