Many Nigerians on Wednesday overwhelmingly
backed the Enugu Catholic priest and Spiritual
Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu State,
Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, for his blunt message to
President Muhammadu Buhari.


However, some Nigerians mocked the cleric on
social media, saying he should have known that
the President was not the ‘messiah’ the country
needed before supporting him during the 2015
presidential election campaign.
Mbaka had in 2015 prophesied the defeat of ex-
President Goodluck Jonathan, who he urged
Nigerians to reject.


On Tuesday, the respected cleric shocked many
when he said that Nigerians would not vote for
Buhari in 2019 unless the President addressed the
socio-economic challenges facing the county.
In the message that is currently trending, Mbaka
said there was too much suffering in the country
and faulted the President for not appointing the
right persons.


He said, “There is hunger everywhere. Landlords
are crying; tenants are lamenting, sellers are
crying, buyers are lamenting – there is hunger on
the streets. 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.”


A former governor of old Kaduna State, Baralabe
Musa, on Wednesday said Mbaka’s message
stated the obvious.
Musa, who spoke with our correspondent on the
telephone, said the President could only win the
2019 election through rigging, which he said
would plunge the country into crisis.
He said, “If the challenges facing Nigeria are not
addressed, Buhari will lose in 2019 except he rigs
the election. And that will be dangerous for the
country.”


Another northern leader, Yerima Shettima, said
the President was fast losing the goodwill that
gave him electoral victory last year. He noted that
the Buhari administration had lost focus, which
had led to abject poverty and suffering for
Nigerians.
Shettima, who is the President of the Arewa Youth
Consultative Forum, said the President shunned
the counsel of honest Nigerians at the risk of his
goodwill and future electoral value.
He said, “The level of poverty is extremely high
and it is worsening. People have advised him, but
he refused to heed good counsel. His goodwill has
nosedived.
“What we have seen is different from the
expectations of the masses. People sacrificed so
much to ensure that he emerged victorious at the
poll. But what we have seen is appalling.
Personally, I have stopped advising him because
he does not listen.”


The National President, Ohaneze Youth Council,
Mr. Okechukwu Isiguzoro, told our correspondent
that Mbaka spoke the minds of the people in the
eastern part of Nigeria.
“I don’t know what the South-West and the North
think; but Mbaka’s statement is the voice of the
Igbo. The reality is everywhere. There is suffering
everywhere; people struggle to feed. There is
hunger in the land because of the President’s poor
handling of the economy,” he added.


A Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist,
Liborous Oshoma, compared the waning goodwill
of Buhari to the challenge ex-President Jonathan
faced, leading to his loss to Buhari in 2015.
Oshoma said, “What Mbaka said is the reality.
People who overwhelmingly cast their votes for
Buhari last year are beginning to have a rethink.
People saw him as the messiah Nigerians had
long waited for. However, what we have seen is
not what we expected.
“We should not forget that Jonathan had a similar
support in 2011, but he blew it. Now, Buhari is
gradually blowing away his. If he does not address
the current challenges, even his party, the All
Progressives Congress, may pay for his inaction.”


Mbaka’s bold message also provided an
opportunity for Buhari’s opponents at the poll to
assess his administrative style.
For instance, Remi Sonaiya, who contested on the
platform of the KOWA Party, said a natural
democrat could have managed the challenges
confronting the country better.
She said, “There is no doubt that there are general
problems. Part of the issues people have raised
about the President is that he does not react
quickly to issues, and that his military background
is affecting him.
“Perhaps, somebody with a different background
could have handled the issues differently and
better. The President has just put together an
economic team. One wonders why it took him
over a year to do that.”


On social media, Mbaka’s message got a large
number of comments and they kept increasing as
of 9pm on Wednesday. On The PUNCH’s website
and on other digital platforms of the newspaper, it
received hundreds of comments and shares.


Commenting on punchng.com, Bill Johnson, who
joined other readers to ventilate the issue raised
by the cleric, said he was disappointed at the
manner the President blamed others for the
challenges facing the country. He said buck-
passing was a major reason the administration
had yet to deliver on any of its campaign
promises.
He wrote, “Blaming others is not a quality of a true
leader. A true leader does not blame followers, he
takes the blame, and that compels him to look for
solutions.”


A Twittter user, Tunde Orimidupa, wrote, “What
Mbaka said was not an attack, but an obvious
truth. He did the same thing during Jonathan’s
administration. He is doing it again. Nigerians
should commend him.”


Writing on Facebook, Ayotunde Ajiboye said,
“Mbaka only spoke the truth; there is a threat
ahead because people are hungry. A hungry man
is an angry man. The issue is beyond voting for
him in 2019; I foresee a mass revolt if the
government does not act fast.”


Aldrin Ativie also tweeted, “The truth is that
Nigerians know there is trouble in the land.”
Kingsley Alexander, who tweeted on
@KingsleyAlexan9, advised the President to
urgently fix the economy, adding that he was fast
losing patience.


According to Daniel Igboanyika, Mbaka’s message
aptly captured the mood of the country.
He said over 95 per cent of Nigerians were not
happy with the manner the President had handled
the economy.


On Facebook, Olufemi Mathew Ojo wrote, “Mbaka
said the same thing during Jonathan’s era and it
happened, now he is saying the same thing to
Buhari.”


Akinsanya Waheed also wrote, “If one plastic of
garri remains N600 till next year, I will vote
Buhari out of power in 2019.”


On Disqus, an online commentary platform,
O’seun Ogunseitan, however, disagreed with
Mbaka.
According to him, Buhari’s performance is
constrained by the level of corruption that
characterised the Jonathan administration.
“The administration did nothing in six years to
build a functional refinery although the yearly fuel
subsidy it paid would have built one. Jonathan’s
‘experts’ were only good at ruining the economy.
They left the economy in a terrible condition,” he
wrote.


But one of Mbaka’s critics, Elobyte Formidable,
wrote on Twitter, “Mbaka does not deserve the
attention he gets. When did he realise that Buhari
was not good enough for Nigeria? If he is truly a
pastor, he should have known that Buhari would
not take the country out of misery.”

[url]punchng.com/nigerians-back-mbaka-say-hunger-poverty-unbearable/[/url]

Hmmm

Buhari and Apc have destroyed Nigeria within one year

He prophesied the truth,he's better than some randy pastors,prophets(Oyedepo,Oritsejafor & co) etc. Its this same man that criticised the previous government which shows he's on nobody's side.

If I tell my parents I would be joining the building Laborers this week, am sure they will cry but what else can I do to salvage the everyday CV sending..

Abeg any builder around Ajah, awoyaya should Holla, even blocks ooo, I go carry.

Suffering will soon reset the brains of all zombies. Eyes don dey clear on daily basis.