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Nigerian Diocese “condemns, dissociates herself from” Priest’s “divisive utterances”

Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka (right) and Mr. Peter Obi (left). Credit: Courtesy Photo
Magdalene Kahiu

By Magdalene Kahiu

Enugu, 19 June, 2022 / 8:50 pm (ACI Africa).

The leadership of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu in Nigeria has, in a co-signed statement, condemned and distanced itself from what it has described as the “unbecoming and divisive utterances” from Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka.

In a Thursday, June 16 statement, officials of the Nigerian Catholic Diocese say the controversial Priest referred to Peter Obi, the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, as a “stingy man" and “as a joker" during one of the meetings of the Catholic Adoration Ministry Chaplaincy Enugu.

The Director of the Chaplaincy reportedly made fun of the Labour Party and claimed that Mr. Obi could not be the president of Nigeria.

“The Catholic Diocese of Enugu hereby condemns and dissociates herself from such unbecoming and divisive utterances from Fr. Mbaka,” the Diocesan officials say in the statement signed by the Auxiliary Bishop of Enugu, Bishop Ernest Anezichukwu Obodo, the Diocesan Chancellor/Secretary, Fr Wlifred Chidi Agubuchie, and the Vicar General, Fr, Geoffrey Aguigwo.

They say Fr. Mbaka’s remarks on Mr. Obi and the Labour Party “are entirely personal to him and do not represent the position of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu.”

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Fr. Mbaka’s utterances are “a clear violation of the provisions of canon 287 $2 which forbids priests from engaging in partisan politics,” the officials of Enugu Diocese state, and add, “In an effort to keep him united to the Body of Christ, we enjoin him to refrain from making further provocative prophecies or utterances capable of heating up the polity.”

“We assure the people of God and the general public that the Catholic Diocese of Enugu is taking the due canonical process,” the leadership of the Nigerian Diocese say about the member of the Clergy of the Diocese who has been at the centre of controversy before.

In May last year, members of the Adoration Ministries violently stormed the Bishop’s residence and the Cathedral of Enugu demanding to know the whereabouts of Fr. Mbaka’s after he went missing.

The protesters claimed that their founder, Fr. Mbaka, had gone missing after Bishop Callistus Onaga invited him for a meeting.

Fr. Mbaka resurfaced days later, and rendered his “sincere unalloyed apologies to the Holy, Roman, and Apostolic Church where I belong.”

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Bishop Onaga decreed that the Adoration Ministry Enugu functions as a Chaplaincy.

In the June 16 statement, the Enugu Diocese officials call on the people of God “to continue to pray for peaceful elections.”

They also call on Nigerians “to discharge their civic responsibilities by getting their Permanent Voter's Card (PVC) and casting their votes in order to elect the right candidates.”

“May Our Lady, Queen of Nigeria, intercede for us,” the Auxiliary Bishop of Enugu, the Diocesan Chancellor/Secretary, and the Vicar General implore.

Magdalene Kahiu

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.

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