An article with a controversial title such as this paper needs preliminary clarification to avoid been misunderstood. This is not because we are afraid of being misunderstood but because in a transaction of this manner, one has the moral obligation to make one’s position as clear as it can be.
Clarification on Fr. Mbaka: Very Rev Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka is the hero priest I revere so much. His heroic exploits during the evil days of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State endeared him to me. As such, this article is not an attack on Fr. Mbaka. You may call it an attack on Fr. Mbaka’s excesses but even this would be wrong. I simply wish to analysis and place Fr. Ejike’s latest prophecy in the context of what I consider the bigger picture.
Clarification on Atiku and PDP: I bear no ill will or personal grudges against the Waziri of Adamawa. For one thing, I admire him because unlike many elites in north Nigeria, who support radical Islam, Atiku’s version of Islam appears moderate to me. That was why I voted for him in 2019.
I consider Atiku a lesser evil to the man currently in Aso Rock. Apart from 2019 when many of us voted Buhari under the misconstrued impression that he was the one who would save Nigeria from corruption, I have always voted for the PDP. The only reason I may not vote for the PDP in 2023 is that I feel that by zoning the presidency to the North after Buhari’s 8 years is a fundamental error. Beside this, I personally have nothing against Atiku or the PDP. Now that these clarifications are made, let’s get into the main reason for this article.
Fr. Mbaka’s Prophecy
I was not at Fr. Mbaka’s Adoration when this prophecy in question was made, so any analysis I am going to make on it in this article will be based on the video clip circulating online. If the clip turns out to be false or doctored, then all my submission here will be invalidated and I won’t hesitate to apologize and withdraw my analysis.
Take-always from Mbaka’s Prophecy
1. According to Fr. Mbaka, the prophecy was prompted by a video-clip being circulated online, which claimed that he apologized to Mr. Obi following the encounter they had at Adoration ground when Obi ran as the VP Alhaji Atiku. Fr. Mbaka claimed in the video that the apology was made under duress.
His bishop, His Excellency, CVC Onaga forced him to render the apology. Mbaka’s position here is understandable. Catholic priests take a vow of obedience and Fr. Mbaka claiming that he apologized under compulsion is excusable. Bishop Onaga’s action is also understandable. Fr. Mbaka’s utterances in his encounter with Mr. Obi generated a lot of public interest and the Bishop himself must have come under pressure to discipline Mbaka or at least make him render public apology.
However, judging the morality of what happened by looking at what Fr. Mbaka did or what the Bishop did would be the wrong approach to the issue. A more appropriate way to look at the question is to ask whether the way Fr. Mbaka treated Obi is acceptable and I don’t think it is.
That a priest of Fr. Mbaka’s stature would be seen in a video watched by almost by the whole world, compelling a politician to give him money in other to win an election should worry any decent human being. That the priest involved in this act didn’t see any reason why he should apologize is even more worrisome. Prophecy aside, our ethics of decency demands that there is behavior expected of public figures like priests. The way Fr. Mbaka almost compelled Obi to give him money and his emotional outburst when he didn’t get his way were shameful to say the least.
2. Fr. Mbaka also said that people should not vote for Mr. Obi because he is very stingy and is therefore cursed. In honesty to Fr. Mbaka, stinginess is a vice and if Mr. Obi is truly stingy then, that could be a very serious impediment for him. However, whether Peter Obi is stingy as alleged is debatable.
I feel the problem here is that the series of bad leaders we have had over the years have so impoverished the people so much so that it is now very difficult to distinguish between generosity and stealing on the one hand and stinginess and public accountability on the other hand. Yes, we live in a country where political officeholders spend public funds with reckless abandon and where people like Fr. Mbaka live on and do charity with funds donated by the poor who can barely afford three square meals a day.
I don’t think Obi is stingy. He simply understands the enormity of the responsibility placed on the shoulder of anyone who has public fund entrusted to his or her care. I feel that the reckless squandering of public fund by political leaders in this country is the more reason why somebody like Obi should be elected president. People have said it repeatedly that somebody with Obi’s type of disposition towards public spending is the person who will pull Nigeria back from the brink.
3. The third point contained in Fr. Mbaka’s prophecy is that Atiku lost the 2019 presidential election because he ran with Peter Obi as a VP. He prophesied that without Obi as a running mate this time around, Atiku is better prepared and is almost on his way to the presidency.
These are very serious claims and on them lie my major worries, which particularly prompted this article. The question running through my mind is this: is there something going on between Fr. Mbaka and the presidential flag-bearer of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubarka that we don’t know about?
Recall that this same script played out between Buhari and Fr. Mbaka in 2015. When the prophecy that Buhari would beat Goodluck Jonathan in that election came out then, many of us saw it as a mere prophecy. We did not understand the level of Fr. Mbaka’s secrete involvement with the ruling party until recently.
Who would have known that Fr. Mbaka went to Aso Rock to demand for contract from the Presidency and that Hope Uzodimma, the Governor of Imo State was no longer picking Fr. Mbaka’s calls, if not for the recent fallout between Mbaka and the ruling party. I have a hunch; that there is a very dangerous, wicked and unholy political alliance in the making between Fr. Mbaka and Atiku Abubarka. In simple terms, I suspect, Atiku has hired Fr. Mbaka to do for him what he did for Buhari 7 years ago. Let me show you how.
What is about to Happen in Nigeria?
Anybody watching political development in Nigeria, especially in the Southeast, would know that the Southeast has stood with the PDP over the years, including during Obasanjo and Yar’ Adua’s administrations. When Jonathan became president, this support was tripled because Jonathan was seen by the Southeast as “our own son.”
However, in the run up to the just concluded primaries, Southeast’s support and interest in the PDP seemed to have dwindled. When the PDP failed to zone its presidential ticket to the Zone, the people felt unappreciated and unfairly treated.
The Zone, especially the youth decided to reject the PDP and queue behind their son Peter Obi. Obviously, the PDP is alarmed by this turn of events and has hired Fr. Mbaka, the political miracle worker, to do for Atiku what he did for Buhari in 2015.
The hope is either to retain their stranglehold over the Southeast or at least trim Obi’s chances of taking the Zone wholesale. The paid court prophet is doing his job and we are likely to see more of these politically “Atikulated” prophecies in the coming weeks and months.
