The Presidency on Friday fired back at outspoken Enugu Catholic Church priest, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka, claiming that his recent diatribe at President Muhammadu Buhari stemmed from a failed contact bid.
The President’s party, All Progressives Congress (APC), also joined in the fray, branding Mbaka’s call for Buhari’s impeachment ungodly, and threatening to expose him to the Pope.
Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the clergy was angry with the President for allegedly refusing to circumvent contract award procedures for him.
Shehu said: “An outsider distilling the avalanche of verbiage will be surprised that after supporting the President two times to win the Presidency, Father Mbaka has made a complete U-turn, preposterously asking President Buhari to resign or be impeached. Here is the point of departure: Father Mbaka asked for a meeting, and to the shock of Presidential Aides, he came accompanied by three contractors. The President graciously allowed them in, and to everyone’s surprise, Father Mbaka asked for contracts as compensation for his support. Anyone familiar with President Buhari knows that he doesn’t break the laid down rules in dealing with contracts or any other government business for that matter. He requested the appropriate authorities to deal with the matter in accordance with laid down rules. Inside the Villa, discretion prevailed, that if those pictures and requests were made public, the followers will turn against the religious leader. None of it was released. Now, this is what is eating Father Mbaka,”