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Controversial Nigerian Priest “not removed” from Adoration Ministry: Catholic Priest

Fr. Ejike Mbaka. Credit: Courtesy Photo
Jude Atemanke

By Jude Atemanke

Enugu, 04 October, 2022 / 8:30 pm (ACI Africa).

The controversial Nigerian Catholic Priest who was sent on a month-long spiritual retreat last year in Enugu Diocese has not been removed or transferred from the Adoration Ministry he founded, a Catholic Priest has told AC Africa.

On October 3, various media outlets in Nigeria reported that Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka had been “removed” from the Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria and sent to a monastery. The reports further indicated that the Local Ordinary of Enugu Diocese, Bishop Callistus Onaga, had appointed Fr Anthony Amadi to succeed Fr. Mbaka at the spiritual centre. 

In a Tuesday, October 4 interview with ACI Africa, the Communications Director of the Diocese of Enugu, Fr. Benjamin Achi, said, “Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka was not removed or transferred from the Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria.”

“Since it was recommended that Fr. Mbaka takes time away in solitude, in order to listen to what the Spirit of God has to tell him, he was allowed to propose a priest to administer, in the interim, to the faithful at the Adoration Ministry,” Fr. Achi said.

He added, “With the approval of his Bishop, on Sunday, 2 October 2022, Fr. Mbaka introduced Fr. Anthony Amadi to the worshippers.” 

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“Nobody was posted to replace him, rather to assist within the period of his canonical absence,” Fr. Achi told ACI Africa in reference to temporary assignment of Fr. Amadi at the Enugu-based entity, and added, “The choice of the Priest who was appointed to assist him was based on Fr. Mbaka’s recommendation.”

“The canonical absence from his pastoral assignment and retreat at a monastery is for his good and that of the Holy Mother Church,” the Communications Director of the Diocese of Enugu said, adding that “many priests have done that in the past and present time.”

The announcement of Fr. Amadi as Fr. Mbaka’s assistant was resisted by Mbaka’s followers, popularly called adorers, as they surged forward to lynch the transferred Priest.

Followers of Fr. Mbaka are said to have resisted the appointment of Fr. Amadi, albeit in the interim, with attempts to lynch him being reported. 

Fr. Achi confirmed the violent incident by Mbaka’s followers who are also referred to as adorers during the October 4 interview. 

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The adorers, he said, “really attacked the Priest but they managed to secure him.”

The Nigerian Catholic Priest said he found it regrettable that such violence would be perpetrated by Catholics, saying, “Insulting the Church authorities in an issue like this under whatever guise is anti-Catholic and Catholic Faithful and every professing Christian should desist from it.”

Fr. Achi added, “Fr. Mbaka is a beloved Catholic Priest of Enugu Diocese under the promise of obedience to his Bishop. What he and other Priests need most from you is prayer-support whenever issues have to do with the Church authorities.”

In June, the leadership of Enugu Diocese condemned and distanced itself from what it described as the “unbecoming and divisive utterances” from Fr. Mbaka.

In a June 16 statement, officials of the Nigerian Catholic Diocese said Fr. Mbaka 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.

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The founder and Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministries in the Diocese of Enugu reportedly made fun of the Labour Party and claimed that Mr. Obi could not be the president of Nigeria.

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 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.”

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

(Story continues below)

Jude Atemanke

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.