Rev. Fr Ejike Mbaka is not the voice of over 30 million Nigerian Catholics. Mbaka is expressing his opinion and not that of Nigerian Catholics. “I tell you, even the Canon Law forbid a priest to engage in partisan politics #Arch Bishop Ignatius Kaigama, the President of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria. Prophecies of doom ahead of 2015 elections notwithstanding, “PDP and APC have no right to disorganise Nigeria.” Cardinal Onaiyekan, commenting on Fr Mbaka, said the priest went overboard in his statement insinuating that President Jonathan’s administration has been plagued with ‘bad luck’ and poor performance. Cardinal Onaiyekan 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,” the Cardinal observed. Onaiyekan, rather maintained that Mbaka had earlier made insinuations that President Jonathan’s wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, will continue in office. “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.”
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 07:03:58 +0000
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