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  • High cost of living: Ojiambo, Mbaka, Iyere unveil fundraiser for FOOD4ALL campaign

    High cost of living: Ojiambo, Mbaka, Iyere unveil fundraiser for FOOD4ALL campaign

    In its quest to ameliorate the high cost of living especially for the less privileged and vulnerable groups, two Nigerian mega NGOs, FUND-YES Cooperative (a project of Youths Off The Street Initiative) and multi-life savers for the less-privileged people, have jointly offered a way out of the acute food crisis across the country.

    This they have done by creating the FOOD4ALL Initiative, whose aim is to finance, technically support, and build a network of 40 million family-based smallholder farmers and food entrepreneurs through its cooperative agri-food entrepreneurship program tagged “One-Family-One-Farmer Scheme.

    In order to globally generate and mobilise the funds needed to successfully implement the FOOD4ALL Initiative, the FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign was launched in Lagos penultimate Saturday at the prestigious Radisson Blu, located at Ozumba Mbadiwe Way, Victoria Island.

    The kick-off ceremony of the FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign was performed by Her Excellency, Ambassador (Dr) Josephine Ojiambo, a top diplomat who served in various top executive positions with the Government of Kenya, the United Nations, and the Commonwealth of Nations.

    Dr Ojiambo is a high-profile and highly celebrated Diplomat who served as Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations; she was Kenya’s Ambassador to the United Nations; she was the Chief of the Executive Board and External Relations of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); she remains a top Executive Official of Rotary International and serves currently, as the Official Representative of Rotary International to the United Nations, specifically UNICEF and UNEP.

    Read Also; Tinubu approves establishment of FCTA youth secretariat

    At the level of the Commonwealth and the United Nations, Ambassador Ojiambo has been deeply engaged with a range of significant national, African, and global issues. Ambassador Ojiambo sits on the Governing Boards of several influential international charities, foundations, NGOs, advisory groups, and think tanks.

    FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign is designed to raise, generate and mobilise funds globally for the implementation of the FOOD4ALL Initiative through its One-Family-One-Farmer Scheme, whose aim is to finance youth, women, and other smallholders and family farmers, as well as food entrepreneurs.

    Its overall goal is to create, finance, and build a national grassroots network of twenty million smallholder farmers and food entrepreneurs.

    These efforts are targeted towards achieving Nigeria’s food security while tackling the ongoing food crisis, chronic unemployment, household poverty, and economic hardship with a view to growing Nigeria into a prosperous economy. The FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign targets to raise Six Billion Dollars (US$6 Billion) for the execution of the FOOD4ALL Initiative and the One-Family-One-Farmer Scheme between 2024 – 2027.

    Ojiambo, who called for global support and partnership for the FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign, said “I urge global donors and development partners to give their full support to the FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign. Nigerians both home and across the diaspora must participate in this nation-building effort.

    “You all must invest in agricultural and food value chains, both in the startups and business growth. What is important is to add your own value in different ways. As you carry out these investments, millions of jobs are created, especially for youths and women, as a practical step towards mitigating unemployment and eradicating household poverty while achieving food security and making quality and healthy foods available and affordable.

    “Governments at the federal and state levels must get involved in this programme, as a matter of national priority and urgent necessity”, Ojiambo remarked.

    While leading the unveiling prayer of the FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign, Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, a popular Nigerian catholic cleric sought global support for the FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign.

    He also stressed the need for Nigerian youths to be agriculturally engaged, as the most viable means of generating mass employment, in addition to achieving food security.

    “It is a known fact that a hungry man is an angry man and an angry man is a dangerous man. This is why we must not allow the ongoing acute hunger crisis to continue”, Mbaka said

    “What does it take to give our people quality food? It is difficult today for most Nigerian families to afford gari, let alone rice. Yet Nigeria’s tens of millions of hectares of fertile farmlands and its tens of millions of unemployed youths are wasting away. FOOD4ALL Initiative is the solution we need. It is the only way to fix Nigeria’s food crisis.

    “I have earlier donated 2000 hectares, I am giving an additional 1000 hectares and then another 470 hectares, which make a total of 3470 hectares. I am 100% committed to the FOOD4ALL Initiative and its implementation. I am already breeding not less than 500,000 fish on my farm. This is the right way to go if Nigeria must continue to exist”, Mbaka said.

    On his own part, Comrade Kennedy Iyere, the Chief Promoter of the FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign, urged Nigerians to fully commit themselves to the implementation of the FOOD4ALL Initiative.

    According to him, it will be unwise at this point to fold our hands and do nothing about the worrisome food crisis, unemployment, household poverty and economic hardship presently experienced by millions of ordinary Nigerians.

  • Mbaka endorses FeeFund, adjudges it best poverty antidote

    Mbaka endorses FeeFund, adjudges it best poverty antidote

    The Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Enugu, Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka has described as worrisome the parlous state of the economy which has rendered otherwise productive youths idle.

    The clergyman expressed this concern at a public forum during the official unveiling of the Fund-Yes Entrepreneurship Enhancement Fund (FeeFund) in Enugu on Saturday.

    The FeeFund is an initiative of FUND-YES Cooperative, a non-bank financial investment and wealth creation cooperative business society of youths, women, and financial investors, established by a social entrepreneur, Kennedy Iyere.

    Addressing journalists, Mbaka lamented the high unemployment rate among the youth, describing it as worrisome and calling for an urgent need to tackle it.

    Read Also: Junior Pope’s death a prank to promote movie, MC Mbakara alleges

    He noted that insecurity would fester if key social problems in the country were not addressed, noting that the current situation has made it important to encourage and support women to embrace entrepreneurship.

    Mbaka described entrepreneurship as a viable tool to tackle youth unemployment and therefore, called for an entrepreneurship revolution among Nigerian youths.

    While commending Iyere and the partners of FeeFund, Mabaka expressed optimism that it would help to provide business financing and enterprise development assistance for youths and women entrepreneurs.

    He said: “This is the time to create mass employment through entrepreneurship and take millions of youths, women, and families out of poverty, hunger and economic hardship.

    “FeeFund is coming at a time Nigerians need it the most. It is important to address the country’s ongoing problem of economic hardship. This is why I have endorsed FeeFund. This is the way to go if we must create jobs for our youths and women.”

  • Updated: Buhari, Mbaka meet in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met with the Catholic Priest and Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
    The closed doors meeting was held at the President’s office.
    Mbaka, before the 2015 general elections had predicted that President Buhari would defeat the immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan.

    Read Also; Ex-VP to Buhari: the world is watching you

    The priest, who arrived the forecourt of the Presidential Villa through the security gate in a BMW car, maroon colour, had passed through the same way and in the same vehicle at the end of the closed doors meeting.

    He left the Villa before journalists could get to him.

    No official statement has been issued on the meeting as at press time.

     

    Details soon…

  • Mbaka: assassination attempt on me real

    •Police order probe

    Fiery Catholic priest and the Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu (AMEN), Father Ejike Mbaka, yesterday said the alleged assassination attempt on him was not fabricated.

    Mbaka insisted that “agents of darkness” were after him, going by the reactions that trailed the alleged assassination attempt.

    Also, the police command, through its spokesman Ebere Amaraizu, a Superintendent (SP), said it had begun investigation into the incident.

    In a statement by his media aide, Ike Maximus Ugwuoke, the cleric absolved the Catholic Church of having a hand in the alleged assassination attempt.

    He said he never at any time blamed the attack on the Church.

    The statement reads: “The report in a section of the media that Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka of Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria ‘fingers the Church on his alleged assassination’ is a false and a sensational headline curled by mischief makers for whatever ends and it is hereby refuted.

    “First, the assassination plot against Fr. Mbaka was not a mere ‘allegation’ or claim, as reported in the media, but an established fact. The impact of the bullet on his car, which the security agents have confirmed, is there for all who care to see. It is also ridiculous that two fictitious characters masquerading as concerned Catholics could go wild to insinuate in the media that Fr. Mbaka planned his own assassination to curry public sympathy and presidential favour.

    “Such statement depicts how far mischief makers can go in trivialising issues as important as the human life and their absolute lack of fear of God. The statement calls to question the level of concern of such ‘Concerned Catholics’ in such a matter involving the life of a Catholic priest. We call on security agencies to investigate the source of such report as the makers of the report or their pay masters may have some useful information to give them in their investigation into the incident.

    “We challenge the two impostors claiming to be writing for the ‘Concerned Catholics’ to come forward with their real identity, parish addresses and contacts to prove the point that they exist and that they are Catholics.

    Read also: Mbaka ‘escapes’ assassination

    “We state categorically that in all efforts made to inquire from Fr. Mbaka the person or persons behind the gun attack at him, he never at any time named anyone or pointed accusing finger at anyone as the sponsor of his assassination plot, be it the Catholic Church or whomever.

    “It is wrong and out of context to ascribe to Fr Mbaka any deductions made by any person or group of persons, or associations or followers of Fr Mbaka on the issue whether verbally or in prints. Such persons or group of persons may be freely expressing their sentiments on the issue but they are not speaking for Fr Mbaka and should not be taken or quoted as speaking for Fr Mbaka…”

    Also, the police yesterday started full scale investigation into the alleged attempted assassination of Fr. Mbaka.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Fr. Mbaka, on December 6, alleged that there was an attempt to assassinate him.

    Police Commissioner Mohammed Danmallam gave the directive for investigation when he visited the cleric in company of other senior police officers at the Adoration ground, Umuchigbo, in Enugu.

     

     

  • Mbaka ‘escapes’ assassination

    •Police: ‘We’re not aware’

    The Adoration Ministry, Enugu, headed by controversial Catholic priest, Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, yesterday alleged an attempt on his life in the Enugu State capital.

    Representatives of the ministry claimed in a statement that Mbaka was shot at last Thursday night on Emene Road in Enugu by some unknown people but he escaped unhurt.

    Chief Aka Emmanuel, President, National Adoration Family; Chief Okolo Godwin, President, Adoration Fathers’ Associations World Wide; Mrs Ann Aligwe,President, Adoration Mothers’ Association World Wide; Chukwu Agoziem, President,  Adoration Youths’ Association World Wide; and Barr Ike Maximus Ugwuoke,Media Chief said the development came to them as a rude shock and utter surprise.

    But the police said they were unaware of any such attack on Mbaka at press time.

    The Adoration Ministry representatives said: “It is with rude shock and utter surprise that we received the report of the attempted assassination plot of the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria last made Thursday evening by some unknown gunmen who fired gun shots at him on his way along Emene road Enugu.

    “This incident has added to several other assassination plots targeted at Fr Mbaka since after the first plot was carried out on him on his way from the Bishop’s house where he had gone to answer an impromptu call by his Bishop during the regime of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State.

    “This assassination plot against Fr Mbaka is coming barely few days after the 2018 Harvest and Bazaar of the Ministry where Fr Mbaka had come under massive media attack for asking Peter Obi, the PDP Vice Presidential Candidate for the 2019 general election who attended the Bazaar programme, to make public his support or donation for the Church Project of the Ministry.

    “Many Supporters of Peter Obi and even clergies have misconstrued this as embarrassing to Peter Obi and to the Catholic Church and this has consequently given rise to the statement issued by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) that same Thursday on the issue.

    “The issue had lingered in spite of the apology  which Fr Mbaka, in his characteristic humility ,had tendered at the altar to Peter Obi and anyone who may have been in any way form and kind been offended at the Bazaar event.

    “We have refrained from making any official statement on the ongoing media attack against Fr Mbaka over the Baazar incident because he had held us from joining issues with the Church Clergies and hierarchies on the subject, but we cannot continue to keep silent especially now that the issue is taking the dimension of plot to exterminate his life.

    “We recall that the last time Fr Mbaka raised alarm over threat to exterminate him was in early 2015 when he faced a similar persecution by some church hierarchy and the PDP Government following his 31st December prophecy of the imminent defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan led PDP Government by President Mohammadu Buhari at the 2015 General Election.

    “Today, with the 2019 general election around the corner, it appears that history is repeating itself. The contemporaneousness of the recent attack of Fr Mbaka by gunmen with the Peter Obi and the CBCN saga leaves us to a safe conclusion that the attack on Fr Mbaka may have either been politically engineered or ecumenically endorsed, and thus we will not hesitate to call on the security agencies in this country to beam their searchlights and leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of this issue.

    “Fr Mbaka’s life means so much to us and many poor and voiceless Nigerians for whom he lives and so we cannot be silent on the face of any threat to his life real or perceived.

    The Police however said last night that no report of any such attack had been brought to their notice at press time.

    Spokesman for the State Police Command, Ebere Amaraizu, told our correspondent the command was unaware of the alleged assassination attempt.

     

  • Mbaka: our support for Ugwuanyi’s re-election indisputable

    SPIRITUAL Director of the Adoration Ministry Enugu, Nigeria (AMEN) Rev. Ejike Mbaka has reiterated his ministry’s support for the re-election of Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in 2019.

    “It is unquestionable; Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Nigeria, stands for him; he is a good man; a man of peace; a perfect genius; humble and ever patient,” the cleric said.

    Fr. Mbaka, who spoke during the ministry’s 2018 Harvest and Thanksgiving Mass at its arena in Enugu, was happy that Ugwuanyi had entrenched peace and good governance in the state.

    The mass was also celebrated for Ugwuanyi, other candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), members of the House of Assembly, State Executive Council, PDP campaign organisation, among others, to herald the start of campaigns for the 2019 elections, as well as entrust the activities to the hands of God.

    The mass was attended by Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi, PDP Vice Presidential Candidate Peter Obi, and Imo State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Hope Uzodinma,  among others.

    The cleric, who extolled Ugwuanyi’s leadership qualities, lauded him for “uniting all political parties” and ensuring equitable development across the  three senatorial districts.

    He said: “Enugu State has not had a leader like him. I have never seen this kind of unquestionable, magnetic, pragmatic and dynamic peace in Enugu State before, because of one Gburugburu. Ugwuanyi has no enemy; he is a governor who has good relationship with the Nwodo family, Senator Fide Okoro, Senator Ken Nnamani, Senator Jim Nwobodo, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani and other leaders.

    “Gburugburu is the ‘Messi’ in the field. Anybody who is contesting against him where does he get his strength? Our support for the governor is indisputable.  The Adoration Ministry loves him because since the creation of Enugu State, we have not seen this type of peace. Enugu is an epitome of peace and security. So far so good”, Mbaka said.”

    The cleric praised Umahi for his development initiative in Ebonyi State and endorsed his re-election in 2019.

  • No vacancy in Enugu Govt House, says Mbaka

    The Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria (AMEN), Rev. Ejike Mbaka, yesterday said there is no vacancy in the Enugu State Government House in 2019.

    The fiery cleric said Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi had done well and deserves a second term.

    Rev. Mbaka described the governor as “a good, kind-hearted, humble, peace-loving and God-fearing leader”.

    The cleric said Ugwuanyi had judiciously managed the state’s lean resources for the benefit of the people.

    The Catholic priest also described Ugwuanyi as “the best governor so far in Enugu State”, adding that he is “an epitome of peace, a sanctuary of conflict resolution and model for rural and urban development”.

    Rev. Mbaka spoke at the Adoration Arena in Enugu during the thanksgiving mass for the governor’s recent victory at the Supreme Court.

    He thanked God for giving the state such an outstanding leader, saying it was the first time since he became a priest that the state was experiencing peace.

    He said: “I pray to God that this good man with intimidating humility will continue to govern Enugu State till 2023.

    “Our governor, God has opened door for you; no man can close it. Those who are following him should continue to follow him. He is a good man. We have one candidate for the governorship seat in 2019 in Enugu State in the name of Gburugburu (Ugwuanyi). We are begging him to come and complete the good works he has started in Enugu State. Enugu State is behind him. The church, students, teachers, traditional rulers, Adoration Ministry, many others are also behind him.

    “I, therefore, advise those who want to contest against him to please consider other elective positions.”

  • Mbaka faults Buhari’s anti-graft battle

    Mbaka faults Buhari’s anti-graft battle

    Fiery Catholic priest, Rev. Ejike Mbaka, has condemned President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption fight, warning that the President should change “those cabal holding him in captivity otherwise he would be changed”.

    Mbaka spoke in his New Year message during the cross over mass at his Emene Enugu Adoration Ground.

    The priest lamented that the good intentions of the president have been hijacked by the cabal he surrounded himself with. He urged President Buhari to wake up and live up to his billings as Nigerians have suffered a lot in the past year.

    His message reads: “I had wanted to pray for you and go because I don’t want anybody to attack me; I don’t want the Bishop to invite me; I don’t want politicians to attack me anywhere. But God forced me to say it.

    “Listen to me, 2017 became one of the most horrible years in this country and that is the message. The Lord says, Nigerians, he says, captive Nigerians, you will be speedily rescued; Nigerians, things are very difficult, hard and tough nowadays; the hardship is not from God, they are man-made; the wicked cabals and satanic agents in this country have wickedly kidnapped the goodwill and good intentions of President Muhammadu Buhari; his good intentions have been kidnapped; President Buhari must wake up and sit up immediately or…heaven demands him, heaven demands Buhari, our President to change all those who are holding and caging him in captivity; if he will not change them, he will be changed.

    “Mr. President wake up; sit up; God said you are toying with the privilege given to you; there is no time; Nigerians are dying in your hand; people are not happy with your system. Change or you will be changed; God said that Buhari is in trouble; Buhari is hypnotised; Buhari is in a horrible bondage; Buhari’s mantra has been canibalised.

    “Unless President Buhari quickly and strategically positions the right people and changes the ones he inaugurated, the wind of change that he himself inaugurated will blow him away shamefully. The wind will be too strong that Mr. President and the cabal will be blown out of office shamefully. The wind will be irresistible for it will come like a hurricane. Buhari can handle this problem but number one, his office, if he is not careful, another will take.

    “Number 2, if he is doesn’t want to move Nigeria forward, God says He himself will plan a strategy of moving Nigeria forward. His pattern of embattling corruption is not just archaic and barbaric, but is witch-hunting, terribly selective. Mr. Buhari, why should you and EFCC be selective in arrests and prosecution, such that your party becomes a hideout for criminals?

    “Change or you will be changed; after all you it was you who introduced change as your mantra.”

     

  • Nigerians are hungry, Mbaka tells Buhari

    Nigerians are hungry, Mbaka tells Buhari

    Adeboye, Oyedepo,  Olukoya hopeful

    Pope preaches peace

    Enugu Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ease the economic pains many Nigerians are suffering.

    The coordinator of the Adoration Ministry, who is famous for his fiery sermons, spoke at the weekend in his New Year message at the “crossover service”.

    ”Many Nigerians are suffering,” he said.

    “Though the President is trying on corruption and security, Nigerians are hungry; they want to see more changes.

    “There is the need to assist businessmen and women in their businesses.”

    The cleric advised the President to appoint experts who would help him to revive the economy.

    Besides, he should consult Church leaders and eminent men of God to advise him and tell him the truth about the economy, he said.

    “We cannot reach him for advice because of the kind of people around him,” Rev. Mbaka added.

    He urged Nigerians to be patient and be prayerful “as your sufferings and hardship would be over in 2017.

    “Nigeria is set to be great again,” he said.

    In Ota, Ogun State, the presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church, Dr. David Oyedepo, urged Christians to obey God’s word to be successful this year.

    Rev. Oyedepo, who spoke on Saturday ‎during the night service to usher in 2017 at the church’s headquarters, said:  ”In 2017, the quality of life of any Christian is dependent on the level of his obedience to God.

    ”The obedience of any child of God can silence every opposition on his life.”

    Christians do not need to make noise to be relevant in the society, as they are distinguished by being obedient.

    He said every commandment of the scripture was applicable at all times and to all children of God, irrespective of their denomination.

    Bishop David Abioye, also of the Winners Chapel reminded Christians to obey to God as it is more important than the economic crisis facing the country.

    Bishop Abioye his 2016 cross over message at Living Faith Church Durumi, Abuja, with the topic “Commanding noiseless breakthrough in hard times’’.

    He said obedience to God had more relevance because it would naturally enhance the quality of one’s steps in life.

    He called on Christian to practise God’s covenant of obedience to flourish even in hard times, adding that opportunities would still come because no circumstance on earth can render it useless.

    “Covenant people that obey the Holy Bible usually flourish even in difficult times.

    “If the covenant is on the path of grace, God’s covenant is committed to deliver it.

    “The quality of your life is a result of the quality of obedience you give God; this is the time to be close to God.

    “Seeking the kingdom of God first will always pay to the covenant of obedience like our salaries and allowances being paid,’’ Abioye said.

    Cleric, Rev. Fr. Leonard Ojorgu, says the security challenges in the country will soon come to an end.

    The Assistant Parish Priest of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Ediba, Calabar, the Cross River State capital, Rev. Father Leonard Ojorgu, said during the New Year service that this country’s challenge would end “as God will restore peace.”

    According to him, Nigeria would overcome its current security challenges and rise above its problems through prayers, obedience to God and good leadership.

    The cleric, who drew his homily from the book of Isaiah 52:7-10, said Nigeria was faced with serious security challenges that needed collaboration of stakeholders to overcome.

    He added that “one of the major problems facing the country today is insecurity. The North East has been under series of attacks by insurgents.

    “The sect has carried out attacks on villages, churches, schools and mosques in the Northeast. But in this 2017, God will restore peace and unity in affected areas and the country in general,’ he said.’

    In Enugu, the Archbishop of Anglican Arch-Diocese, the Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, urged Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of tolerance to build a peaceful nation.

    Rev. Chukwuma made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, saying: “no nation could develop under an atmosphere of hatred and unforgiving spirit’.’

    He urged leaders to continue to preach peace and support the government’s programmes that would promote peace.

    The cleric urged Nigerians to be security conscious “so as to easily fish out mischief-makers that are architects of the crisis in some communities and areas of the country’’.

    Rev. Fr. Clement Mato of St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Mararaba, Nasarawa State urged Christians to ensure peace among themselves in the new year and shun malice to

    promote unity.

    He made the call in his sermon , stressing that Jesus Christ preached love all his life and Christians should to emulate him.

    The cleric said: “Many Christians are praying for blessings and good life in this year, but how can we get all our heart’s desires in a world or country filled with violence?

    “Some Christians pray against people who have wronged them, raining fire and brimstone on them in their prayers.

    “As a child of God, learn to forgive and not keep malice; that is how love works and make sure you desist from sin to attract God’s blessings.”

    In Abeokuta, the Ogun capital, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese, the Most Rev. Peter Odetoyinbo, urged leaders to be alive to their responsibilities in addressing the prevailing hardships in the country.

    Rev. Odetoyinbo, in his New Year Message, said Nigerians needed to pray for God’s intervention “and for the fear of God in leaders as we look into year 2017 with revitalised hope’’.

    In Minna, the NigerState  capital, Bishop Martins Nzuokwu, the Catholic Bishop of Minna Diocese, urged Nigerians to seek spiritual revival to sustain good democratic governance .

    Rev. Uzoukwu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna, added that “prayers would greatly assist leaders to fashion out policies and programmes that would improve the lives of Nigerians’’.

    He said President Buhari needed the support in his commitment to repositioning the country for optimal growth. He lauded the political commitment demonstrated by the President in dealing with the activities of insurgents in the Northeast and the fight against corruption.

     

  • Mbaka to Buhari: PDP members in your govt

    Mbaka to Buhari: PDP members in your govt

    Fiery Catholic priest, Rev.Ejike Mbaka, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari that members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are working in his administration.

    The cleric noted that the President was not free enough to deliver democracy dividends to Nigerians because of the presence of the PDP elements surrounding him.

    Mbaka, who addressed reporters during the graduation of former Niger Delta agitators in Enugu after their nine-month training, said the presence of the PDP elements was making the spirit of looting to hover in the country.

    The fiery preacher said the looters were so mindless in stealing the nation’s resources that it would be difficult to believe they are Nigerians.

    He said: “I wonder where their blood is flowing from.”

    The ex-Niger Delta militants had mobbed the cleric as he was about leaving the venue. They sought his blessings.

    The former agitators, who completed training in plastic manufacturing at the Innoson Kiara Academy in Enugu, got his blessings while he was saying the opening prayers and during his exhortation.

    But the militants insisted that he must touch them individually to ensure the blessings entered their bodies.

    The ex-Niger Delta agitators ambushed Mbaka as he left the venue.

    Midway into the presentation of certificates, Mbaka stood up to leave through a corner, not knowing that the ex-agitators were watching him.

    As he came out of the graduation arena, the former militants cornered him, insisting he must touch their foreheads.

    The priest, who was all smiles, touched each of them.

    Mbaka implored them to explore the potential of the programme they went through and become useful to their communities and Nigeria.

    Blessing the former agitators, the priest prayed that nobody shall “use you again negatively”.

    He added: “It shall be well with you. God will supply all your needs and your future will be visited by blessings and miracles. You shall prosper and succeed. Jesus will be with you and will never abandon you. Your life can never be destroyed. You will never regret this programme and nobody shall use you negatively again.”

    He advised them never to succumb to intimidation of any type, adding that President Buhari meant well for them.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd), hoped the ex-agitators would use the skills acquired to improve their lives and communities.

    He urged them to shun violence, thanking God that they successfully completed the course.

    Boroh said: “Nigeria’s Niger Delta is the biggest in Africa, the third largest in the world. I want you to appreciate it and not to destroy it. I am happy that you learnt something in the Innoson Kiara Academy and you will advance. I will make sure I monitor you and drive you to success in your endeavours.”

    The Chief Executive Officer of Innoson Kiara Academy, Endi Ezengwa, offered jobs in Innoson Group of Companies to those who wished to work with them.

    Ezengwa said: “One of the things that impressed me most was their quest for knowledge. At the beginning, I thought the lectures were too advanced for them but it turned out that they enjoyed the lectures and wanted more.”

    The company chief hoped the Federal Government and state governments in Niger Delta would support Innoson Group to establish model plastic industries in the region.

    He said: “We can source raw materials locally at Eleme. Clusters of our graduates will be part of these factories and we will support them to establish, manage and own them eventually.”