By E.T. OKERE
Just like several other Nigerians, I had initially reacted to Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka’s New Year prophecy on the Imo governorship dispute under the title “Mbaka Waxes Another Song on Imo”.
But even though I also believed that the matter should be de-escalated, Fr. Mbaka has himself continued to stoke the fire.
Reports had it two days ago that the catholic priest told his congregation during a service last Sunday at his Adoration Ministry headquarters in Umuigbo Nike, Enugu State, that he “stands by” his prophecy that the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the March 9, 2019 election in the state, Senator Hope Uzodimma, will take over the government from the incumbent, Governor Emeka Ihedioha.
Fr. Mbaka must have been reacting to the spate of criticisms over his New Year pronouncements but what he has merely succeeded in doing is to join issues with people over his prophecies.
But prophets do not argue with their listeners or keep on repeating themselves. As far as I am concerned, what Fr. Mbaka did was to try to explain or rationalize his prophecy.
But prophecies are not subject to explanations or rationalization and if a prophet is caught doing so or trying to do so, then it goes outside the realm of prophecy and begin to done the garb of empiricism, which is the diametrical opposite of prophecy.
Says Fr. Mbaka: “Those who are attacking the message are just casting pearl before swine, The Holy Spirit has said it and it is final… Ihedioha and co should go and relax; this is not unprecedented. It happened to Goodluck Jonathan, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. And after everything, my prophecy came through…”
Apart from that Fr. Mbaka was or is being unrealistic by believing that he would not be criticized – he says it is an “attack” – over his new year prophecy, reviewing his earlier prophecies as he did in the passage quoted above renders his matter more mundane than ecclesiastical.
As far as I am concerned, it makes his prophecy far much less sacrosanct as it ordinarily ought to be. In the light of the negative reactions that greeted his prophecy, I read it to mean telling Senator Uzodimma, something like this: “Never mind those folks, my prophecy has never failed. You just go and relax”.
That neither elevates the bite of his prophecy nor the confidence Senator Uzodimma and his camp should repose on it. In other words, his resort to explanations or clarifications completely vitiates the potency of the prophecy and just like the highly respected clergy man himself – in spite of everything – I insist that nobody should bank on it.
In any case, now that Fr. Mbaka has, himself, thrown his previous prophecies open for review, it is a well-known fact that they were not as precisely accurate as he claimed in the passage above.
As I noted in my earlier article on this subject, I am not in a position to argue with the Reverend Father over prophecies but since he has brought his earlier prophecies to the purview of scientific analysis, it is pertinent to draw attention to the back and forth and characterized those earlier ones.
Take his prophecy on the 2019 presidential election. Fr. Mbaka did not come out to say categorically that President Buhari will win.
If anything, his first prophecy was that Atiku Abubakar was going to defeat Buhari. These were his exact words: “After you are removed, they will bring people to flog you because you messed up…” Before that particular prophecy, Fr. Mbaka had told the president not to seek re-election.
He not only advised the north to look for a replacement for Buhari, he also specifically tipped the then governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwanbo, as Buhari’s successor.
That was the situation until sometime on December 9, 2018, to be precise, during a bazaar in his church. At that occasion, Senator Uzodimma, the principal character in the current controversy, was present and he reportedly made a donation of N2 million on behalf of the President Muhammadu Buhari.
Then the microphone shifted directly to Mr. Peter Obi, then the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But Obi characteristically declined to pronounce a figure, preferring, instead, to get back to the Father and his church. Where upon an incensed Mbaka took him on and ‘prophesied’ that he, Obi, and Atiku Abubakar were going to fail at the presidential election that was less than two months ahead.
Perhaps it is this type of ambiguity that make some commentators, including highly respected clergy men like Fr. Mbaka, to posit that his prophecies are mere “guess work” but I, personally, am reluctant to join in reducing the cerebral pastor’s career to such a tragic description.
As I noted at the beginning of this article, I agreed with those who thought or think that the matter should be downplayed until I read Fr. Mbaka’s needless fellow-up.
Read Also: Mbaka’s prophecy contemptuous-Imo PDP elders
If he knew or knows the extent to which the emotional and psychological composure of the generality of the good people of Imo State were stretched by his new year and prophecy, Fr. Mbaka would have left it at that level.
In my view, the “I insist on my prophecy “posturing is not only mundane but also a further assault on the collective psyche of Imolites, no matter which side of the divide they belong to.
In my earlier article, I itemized previous interventions by Fr. Mbaka on Imo State which, even though were bought by a section or groups when they were made, ultimately brought regret and festering political disharmony in the state.
Whether he likes it or not, the general attitude to his current intervention is that of skepticism, the fact that Senator Uzodimma has a considerable political following in the state notwithstanding.
If we add this to the fact that Fr. Mbaka ended up recanting in all such previous interventions, it may lead a lot of people to conclude that he takes liberty in toying with the collective integrity and intelligence of the generality of the people of Imo State.
That is very unfair to the good people of the state, a people generally known for their peace-loving nature in spite of the recalcitrance of its political elite.
Fr. Mbaka is a native of Enugu State. Yet, he hardly makes prophecies, whether for good or bad, about his home state.
So, why the special interest on Imo? His intervention in the politics of the state in 2011 led to the most rancorous governorship election it ever had in its political history.
Apart from that the result of that election went against the general expectation and aspirations of the people of the state, the bitterness it created among members of the political class has festered and is, indeed, the very origin of the dispute he is prophesying over today.
Whatever ultimately happens, Rev. Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka need not force his prophecy down the throats of Imolites; or intimidate them as he tended to in the passage quoted above.
Imo is neither lacking in men (and women) of God who are deep spiritually; nor can the collective destiny of the people so straight-jacketed in tentative prognostications.
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