The Spiritual Leader of the Catholic Adoration ministry in Enugu State, Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has narrated what transpired when he was invited by the Enugu Catholic Bishop, Most Rev Callistus Onaga.
Mbaka stated that his grouse with Onaga was that the bishop did not call him one-on-one but held a meeting where other participants were bragging that they would deal with Mbaka and “the Adoration has been closed down.”
Mbaka added that he had thought that his meeting with the Enugu Catholic bishop was “a meeting of a father and son.”
There had been uproar on Wednesday when the Adoration Ministry leader disappeared for about 24 hours which fuelled protests in Enugu before he later resurfaced and addressed his supporters.
A source had stated that Mbaka was suspended for inciting his congregation to lead a protest and vandalising the residence of the Enugu Catholic Bishop, Most Rev Callistus Onaga.
Narrating his ordeal after he rejoined his followers late on Thursday, Mbaka said, “I never disobeyed the church. People are busily misquoting me; they are doing everything to close this ministry but by the grace of God, they cannot do anything.
“I don’t know what happened in the background and what led to this but what I understand was after meeting with a team of consultants, I won’t begin to tell you who said this and that but the Bishop asked me to stay out of Adoration ground for 30 days and be silent for 30 days.
“The only thing I am not happy with is that if the Bishop wanted it to be secret, he should have called me one-on-one. Did you know that before I reached Bishop’s house, the meeting’s conclusion had already been reviewed and I came in there with the hope that the meeting was to be held?
“Those who were there had already bragged that this is the time they would show Mbaka that the Adoration has been closed down, that Mbaka will not come here again. It was so painful and I did not understand it because I thought it was a meeting of a father and son.”
Meanwhile, Bishop Onaga has asked all parishes, chaplaincies and religious houses in the diocese to pray for atonement and reparation of violet protesters, who destroyed the Bishop’s court and parts of the Holy Ghost diocese cathedral in Ogui Enugu, on Wednesday.
The protesters were suspected followers of Mbaka, who unleashed violence on the catholic structures while searching for their leader, who was allegedly detained by the Diocese at the instance of Bishop Onaga’s summon on Tuesday.
