Mbaka Turned Against Buhari After Begging For Contracts But Was Denied – Presidency

The Presidency has hit back at reverend father Ejike Mbaka after the cleric called on the National Assembly to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari on the grounds that the president had failed to address insecurity in the country.

Mbaka on Wednesday withdrew support for Buhari’s administration more than six years after he campaigned for the president against the then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

But in a statement on Friday, Buhari’s senior media assistant, Garba Shehu, claimed that the reason Mbaka turned against his principal after supporting the president two times to win election was because the cleric begged the president for contracts and was denied.

Shehu explained in a four-paragraph statement that presidential aides were stunned when Mbaka allegedly led some contractors to the presidency to solicit for contracts from the president.

“Father Mbaka asked for a meeting and to the shock of Presidential Aides, he came accompanied by three contractors. The President graciously allowed them in, and to everyone’s surprise, Father Mbaka asked for contracts as compensation for his support.

“Anyone familiar with President Buhari knows that he doesn’t break the laid down rules in dealing with contracts or any other government business for that matter. He requested the appropriate authorities to deal with the matter in accordance with laid down rules.

“Inside the Villa, discretion prevailed, that if those pictures and requests were made public, the followers will turn against the religious leader. None of it was released. Now, this is what is eating Father Mbaka.”

THE WHISTLER earlier reported that Mbaka, during a programme at his Adoration Ministry, Enugu, on Tuesday, had warned that the country may be headed for doom should the legislature fail to impeach Buhari.

“Nigerians are crying because there’s no security in the country. The National Assembly should impeach the president if he doesn’t want to resign,” Mbaka had said, adding that, “…something worse than what they can never imagine will happen to the members” should the federal lawmakers fail to impeach the president.

He said, “enough has to be enough. There is time for everything” adding that, “Nigerians are crying because there’s no security in the country. The National Assembly should impeach the president if he doesn’t want to resign.”

In the run-up to the 2015 presidential election, Mbaka had proclaimed a revelation that Jonathan would lose the election.

He had heavily criticized the former president’s poor handling of the country’s security challenges and alleged widespread corruption.

 President Buhari had received Mbaka at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after defeating the incumbent in the 2015 presidential election.

“Thank you very much for what you have done and said,” Buhari had told Mbaka.

“It brought you out to the whole country as a man of courage. It was honest and well delivered. It has gone into the records as one of the best concerns expressed from the pulpit, not because it favoured me and my party, the All Progressives Congress, but because it was good for the country.”

Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), on Friday, accused Mbaka of threatening a democratically elected government, “for his own personal benefits while pretending to be speaking for the people.”

Speaking through its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, the party said the cleric ought to have used, “all known spiritual means of averting crisis” to help the country address the challenges facing it.

“One would wonder who Father Mbaka is emulating because the Lord Jesus Christ did not threaten to bring down the government during his own time, in fact, Jesus Christ obeyed and honoured constituted authority. That’s why he paid his tax,” said Nabena.

“We are calling on Father Mbaka to concentrate on his spiritual calling and stop speaking like politicians who it is obvious he (Mbaka) has been dining and wining with. If Mbaka has found another political ally, it is better to leave a political message for politicians.

“Calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to either resign or be impeached because of the current challenges is ungodly. Father Mbaka should not, however, take his luck too far because there is a lot to tell the Vatican and the Pope about his person and his sources of inspiration.

He further urged other clerics to, “emulate the likes of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God RCCG and Pastor WF Kumuyi of the Deeper Life Bible Ministry and many other true men of God who will rather fast and pray to avert a crisis in the country instead of threatening the government of the day”.