Gibbers

Catholic Church, Rev. Southall and the Adoration Cult

On Thursday, December 9, 2018, a group in the Catholic community, styled as Concerned Catholics, issued a lengthy rebuke of controversial priest, Ejike Camillus Anthony Ebenezer Mbaka, over his apocryphal assassination claim, which he said, “may have either been politically engineered or ecumenically endorsed.” In essence, he alleged the state and the church likely connived to terminate him.

The statement from the group, signed by Chief Jude Ndukwe and Rita Maduabuchi, called the founder of the Word Prayer Centre of the Eucharistic Jesus, better known as the Adoration Ministries Enugu Nigeria (AMEN), a liar who faked his own assassination to blackmail the church over his controversial transfer, a fraud, splurging on alleged surplus from AMEN, a hedonist who wanted to hold on to Adoration for comfort and acquisitions and a self-conceited fellow who thought himself bigger than the church. So, they dared him, to leave the Catholic Church and see if AMEN, would flourish.

This is a part of what they said; “We wish to state categorically clear that this fairy tale of assassination attempts on Fr Mbaka has since become a charming strategy for holding his followers hypnotized as it makes them see him as a super human whose biddings they must do irrespective of its correctness or otherwise.

“No priest of the Catholic Church, no matter how powerful, influential, highly placed or divinely empowered, can ride roughshod on the Church without losing his salt shortly after. If he is tired of being a priest and upholding his oaths on the day of his ordination, he should resign honourably and run his Ministry, independent of the Catholic Church, and let’s see how far that takes him.

“The “sin” of the Church was that Mbaka was involved in a routine transfer that seemed to have negatively affected his comfort and acquisitions. And since then, he has not “forgiven” the Church for daring to transfer a man who had in his conceit, considered himself untouchable. We will not sit down and fold our arms while some misled and misguided brethren continue to scurrilously bring the Church to infamy. Enough is enough!”

Well, Nigerians never got to know the truth of the claim and counterclaim, because nothing suggested a probe was conducted by the relevant security agencies and if it was conducted, nobody said anything about the findings, almost four years after. So, it is either Mbaka misled the nation, created needless tension and public safety concern, because his own were already spoiling for war, or the political class and the church, actually connived to cancel him. Both situations are criminal in nature, but the rule in Nigeria is that the rich and powerful must stroll away from their grievous crimes.

Because the Catholic leadership would not muster the requisite courage four years back, to straighten the rule of engagement for priests on its watch, coupled with the obvious decision of the ruling political class to deliberately let the assassination uproar slide as an ecumenical family affair, a small portion of the 25 million-strong membership of the church, has constituted a renegade army, challenging constituted authorities in the church, at will, once it is about Mbaka, whether he is being transferred or being asked to take time in solitude to hear God more, which is a nice way of telling him to go home.

Despite his obvious talent, Mbaka has surely become a liability to the Catholic community and the Body of Christ and this has nothing to do with his political views. His senior, Matthew Hassan Kukah has been lending his voice to politics, policies, national and international affairs, long before Mbaka was ordained a priest on July 29, 1995. He is also deemed controversial and has made some enemies for himself among rulers of the country. Yet, he is well respected, in fact, almost canonized, by his admirers, world over. I believe the difference in their interventions is that Kukah knows the boundary of decency and rarely crosses it. Mbaka however, regularly strolls across it leisurely and atimes, takes a nap on the other side. Fame and money also likely got his better side and judgement.

No doubt, God has been kind to the priest. For someone ordained 27 years back, to officially worth $20 million in 2020, isn’t an everyday material success story in full time ministry, considering that Mbaka has never held any secular jobs. He also didn’t inherit any wealth from his parents, late Chief Humphrey Ogbuefi and Felicia Mbaka of Amata Ituku of Awgu L.G.A of Enugu State. According to the priest on his Facebook page, his father’s family was renowned for their special talent in palm wine tapping in Ituku community and dad had wanted him, to toe the family business line, before God got him.

Infact, going by his own admission on spendings for charity, he could be much richer than officially acknowledged. On March 4, 2020, Mbaka was at Annunciation Specialist Hospital, Emene, Enugu, on behalf of Multi-Life Savers for the Less Privileged, a non-governmental arm of his ministry and made the following statement.

“We presented a bank draft worth N18.8 million to them to cover the accumulated bills of indigent patients they had treated at our instance, plus a deposit for other indigent patients that would come here in future. We do this every day and it is on record that there is no month that I don’t spend at least $2 million silently, on charity.”

On his claim of doing his charity without deliberate publicity, Mbaka wasn’t being honest. The event was lavishly covered and reported by the mainstream media and somehow, the stories were almost same, word for word, fueling the suspicion of a guided PR, though bylines showed reporters were present. Also spending about N120 million monthly on charity alone, means Mbaka is a billionaire in the mould of Aliko Dangote et al, and this sumptuous sum couldn’t have been from tithe and offerings from Adoration members alone, even if all, are millionaires.

That means Mbaka has heavyweight financiers who he is likely useful to, one way or the other and that relationship is not likely serving Kingdom’s purpose. His huge fortune can also be coming from other sources, but what is yielding him humongous monthly income, from which he could easily dole out over N100 million, must have connected him so strongly to Adoration which would make taking him out like a dagger simultaneously into the four chambers of his heart.

But if he has become a cancer to the church, the leadership would have to find a way of excising him, without rupturing the entire system. If he is deemed benign, they would have to find a way of managing him, starting with curbing his excesses. His financials must also be audited, despite the fact that his acts of giving has made him a cult hero among his admirers.

Last Tuesday, Rev. Charles Southall III who led the First Emanuel Baptist Church in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, for more than 30 years, was busted for stealing, close to a million dollars, belonging to the church. The 64-year-old will be sentenced on January 17, 2023, despite making repayment restitution. The authorities investigated and arraigned him. His followers didn’t engage in sheer gullibility of rejecting facts and engaging in senseless protests. When the facts were placed before them, they applied sense, unlike the constantly unruly Adoration mob.

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