Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration Assembly has been suspended by the Catholic Diocese of Enugu from church activities for one month.
It was gathered that Mbaka was asked to proceed on suspension with effect from May 3 after being summoned by Callistus Valentine Onaga, the diocesan bishop.
PeoplesGazette reports that Bishop Onaga called Mbaka in following his repeated clashes with President Muhammadu Buhari and warned that his conduct was smearing the image of the church.
Onaga and other senior reverend fathers of the Enugu Diocese recognised that Mbaka’s Adoration Ministry as an independent congregation that does not fall directly under the main church’s control, he could still be reined in as a priest under the Roman Catholic’s certification.
Church sources said Mbaka’s latest suspension was being viewed as significant for its undertone, but not the first time the fiery priest would face administrative action.
“We know people will link this to his confrontation with Buhari, but he was once demoted from a parish priest to a deputy under a parish priest,” a church official said.
“He had also been transferred from bigger parishes to smaller ones for his frequent infractions in the past.”
Recall that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, OYC raised an alarm on Wednesday, noting that the renowned Chrisitan cleric’s whereabouts can not be ascertained at the moment.
They had claimed that Mbaka was last seen on Tuesday and that every effort to get to him proof abortive. Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, the President-General of OYC who disclosed the development in the statement signed by him said: “We have it on good authority that his aides have neither seen nor heard from him since Tuesday.”
“Calls put to his mobile line have also remained unanswered; this has now prompted us to issue this alarm as we would not take it lightly should anything untoward happens to him,” Nnabuike claimed.
However, when youths took to the streets to protest the disappearance of the controversial cleric, Father Mbaka resurfaced.