Peter Obi: Catholic Bishop of Enugu rejects Mbaka’s apology

The Catholic Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. C.V.C. Onaga under whose
jurisdiction and supervision Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration
Ministry, Enugu operates, has rejected the recent apology tendered
by Mbaka to former Governor Peter Obi.

Onaga said the apology by Mbaka for the embarrassing episode
with Obi during his ministry’s bazaar was no apology but
apologetics that did not comply with what the Bishops directed him
to do.

The bishop who was speaking Saturday during a diaconate
ordination service at the Holy Ghost Cathedral, Enugu said: “Before
we met Mbaka, he had already apologised to Obi but when we listened
to the apology, we realized it was no apology but apologetics, so
we mandated him to do a written apology to Obi which he agreed to
do and actually did it in our presence. He was remorseful and
regretted his action. We believe he would do the needful by sending
across the written apology.”

Bishop Onaga also bemoaned the deep involvement of clerics in
partisan politics and mandated henceforth, in line with the
directive of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, that
priests of the Catholic Church must not make political prophecies
or endorse any politician or political party. He urged priest under
his controls to maintain strict neutrality in matters of politics
and focus of their mandates as priests.

He however noted that Fr. Mbaka is gifted but should not allow
himself be led into disobeying the directives and authority of the
church.

“I urge you all to pray for Fr. Ejike Mbaka. This man has added
value to the church through his work. I have on several occasions
told him that his is gifted but we must not allow anybody railroad
us into disobeying the directives of the church. I therefore urge
you all to pray for him so that the church can maximize his gift to
the glory of God.”

The bishop also warned that priests were becoming meddlesome
even in matters that does not concern them.

He said: “I have heard such cases in some community where the
contention was that the priest said that a certain person or the
other should be the traditional ruler of a community and the
community was in crisis. This is beyond your mandate as priest.
Priests are not king makers, just preach and pray for them and let
themm counties run their affairs. In the same way, we should also
allow politicians to play their politics and steer clear from the
endorsements of candidates. Nigeria operates a democracy and not
theocracy. We must therefore be mindful to preserve the integrity
of the Catholic church.”

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