Revd. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, has received the backing of his local ordinary, Most Revd (Dr) Callistus Onaga.
Onaga, speaking with The Sun on the sidelines of the First Plenary Meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in Abuja, insisted that Mbaka has not stepped out of line.
Mbaka had come under fierce criticisms in recent times, particularly over comments during the visit of Peter Obi, the Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 election.
He was reported to have said that Obi and his running mate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, would lose to President Muhammadu Buhari, a development which was attributed to Obi’s refusal to part with money during the Ministry’s 2018 harvest and bazaar.
But Bishop Onaga, the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese under whose ecclesiastical watch Mbaka falls, has absolved Mbaka of any wrongdoing.
“He is doing his work as a pastor within the doctrine of the church. And as much as possible, we try to make sure he works within the framework of the Canon Law,” Onaga said.
On Mbaka’s encounter with Obi on December 2, 2018, Onaga added: “No, he didn’t go out of the way. He could have in terms of method done things excessively, but he didn’t do anything contrary to the doctrine of the church.”
Onaga, however, refused to comment on Fr Mbaka’s prophetic activities.
“I am not talking about any prophecy. I am talking of his work as a priest,” he said.
