Priest and founder of Adoration Ministry of the Enugu Catholic Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has made it clear that former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi is too stingy to win election to become the President of Nigeria as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

Father Mbaka’s preaching which was released by the BBC Igbo, implied that Peter Obi has been busy spreading poverty while stashing billions of his money in foreign land.

He warned those supporting Obi to stop wasting their money as the man is not prepared to be president going by his pretentious life style.

He lamented that Obi is not concerned about the plight of the people around him, declaring that he’s under a curse and only an apology can undo the curse.

“A stingy man, that cannot give people his money, with this hunger ravaging the land, and you are saying he is the one you want. Do you want to die of hunger? Are you people insane? Where is the Holy Spirit?

“It is now that Atiku is seriously contesting for President; now that he is contesting without Peter Obi; it is now that he is serious? We want somebody that is serious. Unless Peter comes here to kneel, if he becomes President, he will close down this ministry. What we are doing is spiritual.”

Mbaka who once delivered scathing attacks on Obi in the run up to the 2019 presidential election, when Obi was Atiku’s running mate, further declared, “Listen, a good old man is better than a young wicked man; Peter Obi is going nowhere as far as God lives. If Igbos want a representative, it is not someone like Peter Obi.

“I should not have talked but I saw my video going around everywhere as if Fr. Mbaka wholeheartedly came out and apologized. No, I didn’t apologize wholeheartedly, it was out of duress. I had to obey my Bishop, in obedience I had to, it is not of my volition. I did it because I am a Catholic Priest, my Bishop said, do it, my own is ‘Yes my Lord’.

“I did not say he is a bad man; I said he is a stingy man. A hungry man wants someone that is generous; the man has so much money, but he is ‘I, me, myself’. But that money will not be useful to him. I am very happy now that I have spoken out. That apology is a poisonous curse against Peter Obi,” he added.

Warning Obi, he said, “If he is wise, he should have come here after that apology to say he is sorry but he waited. Anybody supporting him is wasting his money, he is going nowhere.

“He is my friend. When he was chased out of Government House, he knew the role I played to bring him back, but how did he pay me back? Night meetings we attended to bring him back, ask him, ask Eselu Uga, ask Archbishop Anikwenwa, they know where and how we did it and he was brought back,” he pointed out.

He challenged people to, “Ask Peter since then what he used to reward Adoration. If you like Peter Obi, tell him to come and ask for forgiveness. Let him come and redo what he did. There is an altar of God he blasphemed; he defiled an altar of God, the Holy Spirit.

“I called Atiku after that apology, he was in Dubai, I told him that there is a revelation on your presidential election; that you are going to be the President of Nigeria on one condition, that Peter Obi is not going to be your running mate. Peter Obi has incurred a curse to himself, which means that he is carrying a curse; if you want to be President, change him.

“Atiku responded that I cannot, Peter must be my running mate, we must win. You saw what happened. Atiku is still alive. That is why I said it is now that Atiku is preparing to be President.

“Just like Jonathan, I called him, God has shown that you are going to win this election but on one condition; Jega should be changed. If you change Jega you will win Buhari, but if you don’t, Buhari will win you. Goodluck told me, ‘Fr. I will not remove Jega, we will still win’. He held on to Jega and failed.”

The latest attack which video is making the rounds will bring back fresh memory of the pre-2019 presidential election episode, when Obi refused to make donations to the Adoration Ministry despite repeated entreaties and pleas from Mbaka, forcing the fearless yet controversial priest to declare his endorsement for Buhari/Osinabjo ticket.

He later declared Atiku/Obi will be defeated, which put him into troubled waters with the Catholic authority.

Obi is in far away Egypt in a trip he said he embarked on to understudy Egyptian electricity sector.

But he has come under heavy criticisms for it with emerging news that he lied about the purpose of the trip to score cheap political game.

Secretary to Delta State Government (SSG), Patrick Ukah has said that the emergence of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the running mate of Atiku Abubakar in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of next year’s election is good for Igbo-speaking Nigerians from the Southeast region.

Patrick Ukah, who spoke during an Arise TV interview today, June 16, said that it would be a win for the Southeast if Okowa eventually emerges as Vice President because he (Okowa) hails from the Igbo-speaking part of Delta.

According to him, Gov Okowa will be a very strong representation of the Southeast in Atiku’s presidency in the event that they win the February 25 presidential election.

“I don’t want to believe that is going to be an issue. Before I came into government, I was the Secretary-General of Oganihu-Anioma, the professional arm of the Igbo-speaking Deltans.

“Senator Ifeanyi Okowa’s father was a front-liner in the Anioma movement and Anioma is the Igbo-speaking part of Delta State and that is where Okowa is from.

“So, if anybody makes a statement and now said that Okowa is not part of them, that would be very injurious body polity because I believe that we are all one. If Okowa is from one part that makes up Delta State and the Igbo-speaking part that is Anioma, which is an Igbo-speaking part of Nigeria, an average Igbo man should be happy to see Okowa Vice Presidency and I believe that that is not going to be an issue because over the years.

“Even when we operated with people like Ogbonnaya Onu and the others, we have always argued that this language of Bendel-Igbo and Anambra-Igbo would not be good for us because we are looking for the number and we represent that number across the Niger.

“The majority of those who live in the capital territory are all from across the Niger and we have lived as brothers and sisters and we all mingle, they build houses here and we stay together.”

Atiku haad, earlier today, June 16, announced Okowa as his running mate at the PDP headquarters in Abuja.

In his speech, the PDP presidential candidate said that making a choice among the three potential running mates, shortlisted by the party’s leadership was a tough decision for him.

The PDP was reported to have earlier shortlisted Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom, and Governor Okowa of Delta State for screening as Atiku’s running mate.

Atiku said: “It is a difficult decision that I was called upon to take. But, as someone hoping to lead a complex country such as ours, tough and difficult decisions would remain a part of my everyday life.

“Let me, therefore, start this momentous journey with a crucial decision about who, among the eminently qualified shortlist, would be my running mate.

“Accordingly, let me state that the person I have chosen as my running mate possesses all those identified qualities.

“He personifies not only the seriousness the current moment represents for our country but also the future that our young people yearn for and deserve.

“He is a serving state governor who has demonstrated, in his state and through his conduct, that governance is about service to the people.”

The Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma has said that at this point in the life of Nigeria, what Igbos in the Southeast need now is Presidency and not running mate to Northern Presidential candidate.

Uzodinma, who spoke to newsmen yesterday at the Presidential villa, Abuja after a private audience with President Muhammadu Buhari, condemned the excitement in the Southeast about who becomes a running mate to the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar after the Igbos had messed themselves up at the party’s Presidential primary in Abuja.

The Governor, who spoke extensively on where the running mate of Presidential candidate of the ruling All Pogressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu should come from, said: “there are internal characteristics that the decision-maker may consider in the process of making his decision. The decision whether to choose Mr. A or Mr. B to be a running mate to a candidate is entirely that of the candidate.

“You started by saying the governors of the South-East are complaining of not having the opportunity of being a running mate anymore. But that is not the sole ambition of Southeasterners, let alone the governors. In the business of presidential primaries, there is no election for a vice-presidential candidate. The business there is just to elect a candidate.

“In that ballot paper, there is no room for delegates to vote for who will be your running mate. So, that explains why it is not a decision for the public. It is the decision of the candidate. The first thing to do is to let the candidate. Now a candidate has emerged.

“Now the candidate will factor into consideration some ideas and issues like how to create a spread. Spread is very important to be able to attract votes. So, the decision of who becomes your running mate, if I were the candidate, what will inform it is an action that will enable me to get the kind of votes I’m looking for, because the ultimate goal is to win the election.

“So, maybe I’ll start from the denomination, ethnicity, or followership. In this business of democracy, I think the number is what is very important. And there are certain things as a nation, we should not bring to the public discourse.

“Those things that are capable of creating divisiveness against national unity should not be encouraged. It does not mean that I will not remember that I come from a place but I must also be cautious about how to use where I come from in taking national decisions.

“The second question which is about a running mate, South-East is not meant for running mates. What we wanted as a zone was to be the president of Nigeria and I was convinced that it was proper for us to ask for it. But in this business, it is partisan democracy, the minority will have their view but the majority will have their way. In the wisdom of the delegates that elected the presidential candidate, a candidate has emerged, our party APC will come together, work for our candidate and produce the next president.”

When asked to comment on the alleged move by Tinubu to run with a Muslim-Muslim ticket, the Imo governor argued that the Nigerian Constitution does not dwell on religion as a factor in the selection of a presidential running mate.

Source: Daily Post.