Onaiyekan, Kaigama chide Mbaka over GEJ comments; he does not speak for the church - Okogie

The recent comments by a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has continued to receive criticisms from many quarters including leaders of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. Fr. Mbaka who runs the Adoration Ministry, Enugu had asked Nigerians to reject President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and vote for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd ) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 14 presidential election. But this apparently partisan comments did not go down well with the church's hierarchy.

Reacting to Mbaka's statement, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, said given the rules of the church, the priest ought to be sanctioned for making such comments. Cardinal Onaiyekan in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, distanced the Catholic Church from Mbaka’s statement, stating that, “Mbaka will take responsibilities for his own actions. I do not believe in my mind that the way things are in Nigeria, any Catholic priest has the mandate to decide which of the political contestants should be voted for. What most of us will do is to tell people to vote according to their conscience and then, we tell the authorities to allow people to vote freely and fairly.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if most people are not happy with the statement he made. From my reactions, you should see that I do not agree with him. I don’t believe a priest should be doing that.

“But, like I said, Mbaka is a priest of his own type. If he was in my archdioceses, I will have sanctioned him long ago for the kind of things and utterances that he makes. But, he is not under my diocese; he has a Bishop to handle that if there is any need,” Onaiyekan said.

The Cardinal further said “I hope that people are not thinking that we are sending Mbaka to talk rubbish, how can they think that? If you want to hear anything even not official but at least, authoritative, then, you listen to the bishops. Rather than him and I don’t see any bishop talking that way.”

Also reacting to Mbaka's controversial statement, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, stated that the statement of one Catholic priest cannot be taken to represent the voices of more than 30 million Catholics in Nigeria. He stressed that Nigerians should avoid making unguided statements and hasty generalisation on national issues like the 2015 general election.

“There are more than 30 million Catholics in Nigeria, Fr Mbaka is just one Catholic, if he makes a statement, it cannot be the voices of more than 30 million Nigerian Catholics speaking.

“So Nigerians should avoid hasty generalisation. Mbaka cannot speak for the church, only the CBCN can speak for the church. Those who are complaining, should go to Fr Mbaka and find out why he is saying what he is saying,” the CBCN President said.

He condemned the utterances of the cleric noting further that he went contrary to the laws of the church. “I tell you, even the Canon Law forbid a priest to engage in partisan politics,” Kaigama said.

“If the law has been abused, we will ensure that we enforce the law. In this case, it is not the Catholic church; the church did not send him to say those things.

“Mbaka belongs to a diocese, so if the Bishop finds out that he has fallen out of line, the Bishop can call him to order.”

“Mbaka is just expressing his opinion, if we want to make a political statement, we know how to do it. That we keep quiet and we are marginalised, does not mean we don’t have strength. With more than 30 million Catholics, we have the strength,” he noted.

On his part, the Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, said in an interview with Vanguard, said the statements made by Fr Mbaka were abnormal and influenced not by the Spirit of God but by another spirit. Okogie noted that if he had his way he would have closed down the Adoration Ministry run by Fr. Mbaka.


Excerpts of Cardinal Okogie's interview Below:

How do you see the statement credited to Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka?
Any serious priest will not speak the way he spoke. I am not saying that he is not serious. I will not agree with the things he said. According to what I read in the newspapers, a few weeks earlier, the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, visited his Adoration Ground in Enugu and he prayed for her. At that occasion, he was said to have lambasted the opposition party, APC, and now to turn around overnight and start lambasting President Goodluck Jonathan shows that there is something wrong somewhere.

Personally, I felt bad because it is not the place of a priest to go to that extent. He can have his personal opinion, but to go to the extent that he went is abnormal. I want you to know that he wasn’t speaking for the church. He said he was moved by the spirit, and I wonder what kind of spirit was that.

He said he was under the inspiration of the spirit. If he was under the inspiration of the spirit, I wonder if the spirit is that of God. I don’t think the spirit he’s referring to is the spirit of God. He must have been under the influence of another spirit. He must have been listening to a wrong spirit.

Is the statement not embarrassing to the Catholic Church as a whole?
Indeed, it is. But I must say to you that he was not speaking on behalf of the church. No! No!! No!!! Anybody with such opinion is in error. The man cannot hold brief for the church. Pardon me, but how can I say you are bloody fool and anybody takes that to mean that all journalists are bloody fools. It’s very funny.

In a situation such as this, what does the Catholic Church do?
Well, the Catholic Church is structured in such a way that there are dioceses where each priest belongs. This particular priest happens to come from Enugu Diocese, so it is left for the bishop in charge of that diocese to discipline him. If the priest fails to obey the discipline, then the bishop is obligated to report the mother to the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN.
You may have heard the Bishop of Abuja Diocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, who said that if the priest were to be in his diocese, he would discipline him straight. But he is not in his diocese. The best anyone of us can do is just to advise him that he had gone too far and he is free to take our advice and he may not. God gave every one of us a free will and we are at liberty to use the freewill as we choose.

What kind of sanction can be given to such a priest?
It depends on his bishop. You cannot dictate for his bishop. Don’t forget that this same man was at loggerheads with a former governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamanni, and it was the same Adoration Ground in Enugu. If I have my way, we should close that place because a lot of things have been happening there that are out of tune. I think Gov. Peter Obi also went there for prayers at one point. If I have my way, I won’t go there for anything…