BY NED NWOKO
Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has revealed what transpired when he was declared missing.
Mbaka said he was summoned by the Catholic church leadership in Enugu, led by Bishop Callistus Onaga, over his recent statement, concerning Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his call on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign or be impeached by the National Assembly.
According to him, he said the Church leadership had wanted him to stay indoors for one month to enable him pray and meditate.
He said he turned down the request, and he was only freed when the protest on his whereabouts began to gather momentum.
“How can they believe what others say, and they will not believe what the priest is saying? The emphasis is ‘please, let me go to celebrate the mass’, but they said ‘no’. If a priest will request to celebrate mass and they say ‘no’, that means something is wrong.
“Allow me to and celebrate mass for my people just for today, I won’t even tell them that I am being punished, they said, No. I will just tell my members that I’m going for 30 days prayer, that after 30 days, we will come back and everybody will obey, they said, No.
“I also begged them to appoint another priest to come and celebrate mass for you today, they also said No.
“They didn’t treat me in a pastoral way. I was asking ‘am I being punished for what’?
“They said it was a meeting, but even before I reached the Bishop’s house, conclusion has already been made. What happened to me was like the day I was shot on the road.
“Unfortunately for them, even before the meeting, a woman was already going around bragging that the Bishop will call me for a meeting, and that I was going to leave my house here for 30 days, and that after the 30 days, I would be sent to Rome, and Adoration ministry will be closed.
“In a time and cases like this, don’t give me a punishment that will cause troubles for us because I’m not alone.” he stated
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