Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, the youth arm of the leading Igbo socio-cultural organization, has demanded the reopening of Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka’s Adoration Ministry and warned that a protracted closure could be fatal.
Recall that the ministry was hut down as a result of Mbaka’s outburst directed at Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate.
A protest from adoration parishioners did not help matters either, as a man was seen in a viral video threatening to kill Enugu Catholic Diocese Bishop Callistus Onaga.
The young man in question has mental health issues, according to Mbaka, who earlier came forward to say that he would never be a part of any scheme to harm the Bishop.
The OYC responded in a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday, saying the Adoration Ministry’s protracted closure was a ticking time bomb.
The statement was signed by the OYC National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike and the Secretary, Comrade Obinna Achionye.
The group said they had been making efforts to calm the frayed nerves of Fr. Mbaka’s followers, stressing that it would be difficult to hold them for too long.
While alleging deliberate plot to frustrate Fr. Mbaka out of the ministry, the OYC said, “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 ministry.
“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.”
The Ohanaeze youths also claimed to have uncovered plans to build a seminary at the Adoration ground, noting that, “if actually it is about Peter Obi, Fr. Mbaka has even apologized for his statements, and we had expected the Church authority to forgive him in line with Biblical injunctions. After all, what he said was a prophecy, the right thing was to pray against it.”
On the threat video, the group said the personality involved was a known mentally unstable character and that no one should lose sleep over “his rantings.”
They appeal to Bishop Onaga “to consider the numerous people Fr. Mbaka puts food on their table everyday. 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.
“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 apologized, the Church should look at the bigger picture and forgive him.”