The Presidency on Friday, April 30 said that Catholic Cleric, Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka suddenly became a critic of the Muhammadu Buhari led administration because his plea for a contract was rejected.

Fr. Mbaka, the popular Cleric in charge of the Adoration Ground Ministry in Enugu made the headlines yesterday when he called for the impeachment or resignation of Buhari as a result of the frequent killings and banditry which he has failed to curtail. Mbaka had earlier publicly supported Buhari in 2015 and 2019. In his words: “How can people be dying and the chief security officer of the country would be sitting down without making any comment? Gunmen attacking people everywhere. Buhari should have resigned honourably following his (alleged) failure as a leader.

“Let me tell you that if it were in a civilised country, President Buhari would have resigned by now. So, it is amazing that he has chosen to sit tight while people are dying daily.”

However in a statement released by the Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, it read:  “An outsider distilling the avalanche of verbiage will be surprised that after supporting the President two times to win the Presidency, Father Mbaka has made a complete U-turn, preposterously asking President Buhari to resign or be impeached.

“Here is the point of departure: Father Mbaka asked for a meeting and to the shock of presidential aides, he came accompanied by three contractors. The President graciously allowed them in, and to everyone’s surprise, Father Mbaka asked for contracts as compensation for his support.

“Anyone familiar with President Buhari knows that he doesn’t break the laid-down rules in dealing with contracts or any other government business for that matter. He requested the appropriate authorities to deal with the matter in accordance with the laid-down rules.

“Inside the Villa, discretion prevailed, that if those pictures and requests were made public, the followers would turn against the religious leader. None of it was released. Now, this is what is eating Father Mbaka.”