Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka, a Roman Catholic priest has expressed his fears for President Muhammadu Buhari, especially as his popularity poll continues to drop.
The cleric in one of his latest messages to his congregation rebuked the president for concerning himself with trivial issues while neglecting the key sectors in the economy which needs to be focused upon.
Rev. Father Mbaka said: “The issue is that Mbaka is speaking as the Spirit leads him; there is hunger everywhere; my job is to tell leaders the truth, the landlords are crying, the tenants are lamenting, sellers are crying, buyers are lamenting; there is hunger on the streets (onye obuna na ajazi eze) people are talking harshly, there is a channel called Aljazera, (ndi an aja-eze), many students are being rusticated out of school because they cannot pay school fees; the fees are being hiked. Proprietors are distressed, many companies are winding up; the economy is relaxed, Nigeria is being attacked ferociously and you are the citizens as well as the members of the church.
“So, when you are being attacked, the church is being attacked, that’s why I can’t keep quiet when things are going wrong. I am telling the President to look around him and know those who are advising him rightly and those who are telling him that there is no trouble; the President should know that there is trouble; if things continue like this, in the next election, nobody will vote for him.
“Whether they like it or not, I am giving the raw truth; if the President should have somebody like me and he cannot be talking with me, then there is a problem; there is a problem somewhere; somebody who can advise you without asking for anything and he is representing the poor masses in the country and he won’t tell you lies; he will praise you when you are doing well and when you are not doing well, he will look at you in the face and tell you.
“I don’t need the President; I need God, I need the Holy Spirit, I need Jesus; there is suffering everywhere, people are suffering. To feed is now a problem, and a hungry man is an angry man. Hunger and anger will lead to danger.
“So, let him know whether he can do away with some advisers around him and bring in the people who are experts in economic revamp; there are people who are experts in that; let them begin to empower people, people are not empowered, they are still walking around in vicious circles, planning and planning and planning. Go to mortuaries, go to mortuaries, there are no spaces. I repeat, myself went to Annunciation Hospital the other time to see my brother, coming in, there was no space, the whole mortuary was filled up and they told me it is the same thing in the Eastern Medical Centre and that if I go to UNTH, there is no space, the death rate is high”.
He further added: “People are living in hope and in hope; the adorers are hoping that things will be well; I’m calming the situation, when you tell somebody same thing everyday, when will things be well, when the person is in the grave? Hunger everywhere, many neighbours don’t eat again, many are being attacked by hunger, hunger is becoming a normal thing and there are people responsible for this; mortuary and ambulance business is now the thriving it; many cannot afford drugs; they can’t pay and many are using it to rob the poor by opening satanic centres to dupe the poor and they will be giving people fake prophecies, many terrible things are happening in these centres in the name of churches; these are robbers; people will tell you lies to take money from you. These are robbers, these are hooligans who are at work in today’s Nigeria, many are becoming hawkers, who will buy from you, with what? Even those selling palm oil are adulterating it, even rice, wahala, even tomatoes, because of the price, people put preservatives and sell poison to people, I don’t know whether some people now embalm tomatoes, what is happening? Things are hard, even to change clothes, everyday more pipes are being blown, the Avengers are at work and up till now, there is no solution. You know when certain things begin to happen, you begin to ask some questions, somebody like me will begin to ask – when will this end (nke a kabu ututu), this is still good morning of it.
“If it continues the next three months, there will be no money to pay salaries; the vicious effect is disastrous and when salaries cannot be paid, teachers will come home, students will stop going to school, there will be more kidnapping, more hooliganism, more armed robbery, more prostitution, immorality will be on the hike, so, the President should sit up, there is a red light blinking on the country, the issue of Saraki and Ekweremadu, nobody wants to listen to such stories any more, whether Saraki is the President of the Senate or Ekweremadu is not this or that, the countrymen are tired of such stories.
“We need economic experts, gurus, sages that are sincere, who can come in and think about our economic revamp and judicial reformation. How can a case be in court for more than 10 years? Even if you prosecute all the senators, the matter may linger till the next 20 years; so what purpose have you achieved? All these noise, EFCC arrested this and that, after one week, that one is over; people are dying of hunger; dollar is growing everyday and Naira is falling; Euro is rising everyday and Naira is collapsing everyday; pound is on the hike everyday, on a mega level and Naira is dwindling on a higher level, before you know it, people will begin to lose hope and it will affect their faith in God, because they will begin to lose faith and ask God where are you? That is where it affects me because it affects the faith of the people. The Bible says if the foundation is destroyed, what can the just do? The Bible says the just man shall live by faith, that is my simple logic, when shall this end?
“These Avengers phenomenon, I did something that if the leaders of today are wise, the problem could have been averted. By the gift of the Holy Spirit, His sagacity, I was proactive; that time they have not started bombing; I made a lot of effort; I won’t tell you what I spent so that the President will not suffer what he is about to suffer. Like I told you, this is just the good morning of it, very soon, people who are quiet will begin to talk, when somebody like me will bring my cheque and all the money I have in my account will finish in school fees, hospital bills, is it were well with these peole will they be coming to me. I am receiving the pain and shock drastically.
“The quantum of charity we are doing in the ministry is telling the level of poverty that is in the atmosphere. To eat is now a problem, people no longer say give us these days our daily bread but give us this day our daily bread, man must eat to survive, people are not even talking about jobs any more, graduates are everywhere, those who are making now are those who are selling dollars.”