Tag: Mbaka

Truth is bitter; particularly when spoken to power

Before God and man, at the popular Catholic Adoration Centre in Enugu, Enugu State, Revd Father Ejike Mbaka who heads the church, openly canvassed the rejection of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in next month’s presidential election. The fiery priest did not mince words and he was not apologetic about asking Nigerians to vote for a leader who can tackle the country’s many challenges. He also had harsh words for men of God who hobnob with those in power, currying one favour or the other. Indeed, the title of his New Year day sermon defined the message: “From Good luck to Bad luck.”  Give it to him, Father Mbaka did not leave his congregation groping in the dark; he itemised major areas that the Jonathan administration has failed, which naturally should have sufficed to buttress his points.

“When Goodluck met Yar’Adua, he got bad luck and died. When Goodluck met our oil, it poured away and met bad luck. When Goodluck met our Naira, it met bad luck”, Mbaka said. Citing the problem of unemployment that has become the lot of youths in the country, the priest said: “Look at you brilliant youth but nobody has any plans for you – jobless – our leaders should come and apologise; 2015 cannot be the same. We announce change.” And, in apparent allusion to the intractable Boko Haram insurgency that has virtually crippled the northeastern part of the country, Mbaka said: “Many are saying that it is Buhari, that he said he will make our country ungovernable. Even though Buhari never said such a thing like that, but if you are the president, will you not arrest such person?” Another rhetorical question: “Are you waiting for your own church to be bombed before you speak out?” Then the clincher: “If my father will be my leader and my siblings will all die, let a stranger be my leader and let my family live.”

In line with the mood of the nation, the video of the sermon has since gone viral. But if truly religion is the opium of the people, then Father Mbaka served his congregation the right dosage as they chorused thunderous ‘no’ when the answer should be nay and ‘yes’ when they meant yea, more or less agreeing in toto with the Reverend Father’s submissions.

But that is only one leg of the story. The other is that Father Mbaka has come under severe criticism from two quarters. The first comes from those who see a contradiction in the Revd Father’s earlier position allegedly endorsing the president; and the second from some sections of the public, including the Catholic Church itself; that felt the priest went overboard in his sermon. The latter has rekindled the debate as to whether religious leaders should dabble into political matters and the extent to which they can go.

The Archbishop of Enugu Anglican Province and Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. (Dr) Emmanuel Chukwuma is unhappy with Father Mbaka. He wondered why he would criticise the president after allegedly collecting N5milion from the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, who visited the Adoration Ground, and he (Mbaka) eulogised the president. National Coordinator of the House-2-House Network, a pro-Jonathan group, Prince Chidi Ibe, also said the priest is angry over his inability to secure oil blocks in the Niger Delta region. “Ordinarily, I will not reply when a clergyman has his own views, but I can categorically tell you that Father Mbaka has travelled severally in quest of oil block in Nigeria. I know he has not succeeded and I know that he is not happy that he is not getting it. So, has he been promised oil block by Buhari to categorically stand at the Adoration Ground and say Goodluck is a bad luck to Nigeria?”

But a socio-political group in the South-East, Ndigbo Unity Forum, defended Mbaka, and berated Rt. Rev Chukwuma. Augustine Chukwudu, President of the forum, said that some religious leaders who were condemning Mbaka were guilty of hovering around Aso Rock to get gratifications from the president. Hear him: “if Bishop Chukwuma is afraid when Mbaka said some religious leaders, like vultures, besiege Aso Rock to seek for one favour or the other, then, he should check himself and stop pointing fingers at an ordained man of God”.

These claims are neither here nor there. But even if it is true that Revd Father Mbaka got N5million from the First Lady, for instance, what was the money for – to bribe the priest or to bribe God?

Anyway, what is of interest to us is the message and not the messenger. Has the Jonathan administration solved the country’s power problem? The answer is no. Has it solved the problem of unemployment? Again, the answer is no. Has the government any firm grip on the economy? No. How much was the exchange rate when the government came on board about five years ago and how much is it now? Has the government tackled the problem of corruption? No. And how far has it been able to curb insurgency, armed robbery and kidnapping? Even President Jonathan himself admitted recently that these are serious challenges that his administration is now poised to tackle, about five years after he became president!

Without doubt Mbaka’s bombshell cannot but resonate the way it has given its weighty allegations and those smeared by them. Nigerians know that many men of God in the country have visited the seat of power on every ostensible ground imaginable. Some had been invited while others invited themselves, knowing they would not return empty-handed. Even vultures would have done things in a more dignifying manner.

The sermon was particularly a damning verdict for the Jonathan administration, especially coming from a popular priest in the southeast which had been thought to have endorsed the president’s second term ambition.

All said; the debate as to whether the church should get involved in political matters or not will not disappear anytime soon. But then, one major problem we have in the country is the failure of the church to live up to expectation as the conscience of the people, and the priests as God’s representatives on earth. Priests should not be silent when things are going awry like they are in Nigeria if only for the fact that they too would be affected when a country begins to reap the fruits of injustices and deprivations that pervade Nigeria today. How many people can go to church in the troubled regions? So, it is high time our men of God realised that many of our political leaders who seek their attention are not doing so for altruistic purposes. Rather, they do so to compromise and give them a false sense of reverence by the political leaders. If our leaders truly respect the religious leaders, they would honour God and when they do that, they would in turn govern responsibly. That, indeed, should be the message of the religious leaders to the political leaders whenever they visit or consult them for spiritual guidance.

Perhaps many of the country’s leaders would not have failed abysmally as they did if religious leaders are courageous enough to speak truth to power. We recall those years when the (then) Archbishop Olubunmi Okogie (now a Cardinal) was in the vanguard of the critics of our military rulers. Okogie’s role then not only showed him as an activist who had the interest of Nigerians at heart but also projected the Catholic Church as a catalyst of social consciousness. What we see in many of our churches today is nauseating. After fraternising with those in political positions, many of our religious fathers lose their voice and when they manage to retrieve it, they speak, understandably, in incoherent tunes.

We sympathise with those who genuinely fear that the involvement of religious leaders in politics is dangerous; indeed, we acknowledge the contributions of the Catholic Church to nation-building.  But we dare say that many of those asking for Revd. Father Mbaka’s head are behaving like old women who can never be at ease when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb, for obvious reasons.  If it was true that Mbaka once openly supported the president, why did they not protest then? Why now?