Speaking truth to power is not easy and may come with serious consequences, says Ejike Mbaka, Catholic Priest and founder of the Adoration Ministry worldwide, with headquarters in Enugu State.
During a meeting with Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mbaka narrated how he was almost killed days after he met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and “told him the truth”.
Mbaka said that during his discussion with Obasanjo, “I asked him, “Mr President, I hope after telling you the truth, I will be safe?” and he assured me of my safety. But two days later, my house was bombed.
“Everything in the house was destroyed. A spy had told me to escape from the house as the house was going to be bombed.
Narrating further, Mbaka said he was accosted by assassins as he was driving along, days after he survived the bombing of his house.
“I had three orphans with me, whose education I was sponsoring, but they took the children aside. One of them came down and identified me saying ‘he is Fr Mbaka’. They asked him ‘are you sure?’ he said ‘yes’, then they started raining bullets on me. I don’t know how I escaped .
“When I came to myself the next day, in a nearby bush, I saw my white garment covered with blood but somehow the bullets did not penetrate me, how it happened I don’t know.
“This is what I want to stop in Nigeria.”
Mbaka also said that it was because of his courage to speak the truth at all times that he was transferred to a remote area of Enugu State.
He told Sowore that he was not afraid of criticising Buhari’s administration even though he had supported him in 2015.
According to Mbaka, “Buhari is a good man” but his ideology “has been kidnapped”, “his change mantra has been hijacked”, and “he is confused”.
However, Mbaka refused to expressly endorse Sowore’s presidential aspiration, saying that he is only interested in the person who has the interest of the common people at heart.
“Anybody that means well for my people is my fellow apostle,” Mbaka said. “We need God to give us somebody after his own heart who can emancipate Nigeria. When Nigeria is good, it will rub off on the whole of Africa.”