This weekend may not be one of the most delightful for ‘fiery cleric,’ Father Ejike Mbaka, Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, as he stepped on the venomous tails of President Muhammadu Buhari‘s handlers.

The development comes days after the Catholic priest fired a salvo of criticisms against the President, including a call for his impeachment in the event that he fails to resign.

According to Fr. Mbaka, God is not happy with his (The Buhari) government because of the insecurity and killings in the country, as well as its attendant silence and has asked him (Mbaka) to withdraw and prophesy against the President.

The cleric further warned the lawmakers that should they fail to impeach the president and begin to attack him; “…something worse than what they can never imagine will happen to the members.”

While Father Mbaka is known to have supported the current government in the 2015 and 2019 elections, his latest outburst has not come as a surprise to many. I mean, who isn’t angry that a Commander-in-chief keeps mute in the face of the terrible state of security in the country?

The rude shock however, is the realisation that the Buhari government as well as the ruling party All Progressives Congress appear to have no standard in its mission to deflect the attention of citizens from the catastrophic leadership it claims to be providing in this chaos.

It should even be one of the seven wonders of the world that a President elected to wipe away tears of the citizenry would approve many of the press statements issued by media aide, Garba Shehu, on his behalf. Can you guess what some of us are thinking right now? The infamous “Who is the Presidency?”

The APC in this new and out-of-rhythm dance steps considered a warning to Father Mbaka not to “take his luck too far because there are lot to tell the Vatican and the Pope about his person and his sources of inspiration” as the best response to germane issues raised. Imagine a part of progressives elevating blackmail to such heights!

They would go to the extent of labelling Mbaka’s call as a threat to democratic rule in the country as if we invented the concept of democracy or run a monarchy. And in taking it a step higher, Spokesman Garba described Mbaka’s call for Buhari’s resignation in face of worsening insecurity as preposterous.

In a series of tweets late Friday, the Presidential adviser claimed Mbaka had in time past, asked for contracts as compensation for supporting President Buhari’s quest for office in 2015 and 2019. For him, although this request didn’t matter to anyone since he was still on the President’s side, it has now become inevitable to make followers of the Catholic priest “turn against the religious leader.” Afterall, this is a bolekaja administration.

An action remniscent of his response to Bishop Kukah, the one on Governor Samuel Ortom‘s criticism of President Buhari’s leadership style, the spate of killings, calls for a National Confab by various socio-political group and the most shameful defence of Pantami saga.

Also worrisome is the fact that this appear to also be the lowest hanging fruit in their playbook; as Rights Activist and Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, towed a similar path when he recently released private chats between Rapper, Eedris Abdulkareem and himself, for daring to release his own remixed protest song.

On the part of the priest, while he may have raised vital points such as public sector corruption, biting poverty, the extra-judicial killing of Ikonso, the Imo Commander of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) Commander, as well as the non-chalance of the President, he has a duty to defend himself against such a weighty claim.

It therefore means that although Fr. Mbaka’s message holds large amount of truths, he must also remember that “He who comes into equity, must come with clean hands.”

Most importantly, whether he defends himself or not, Nigeria is currently experiencing total absence of leadership while at war with scavengers in its nook and cranny. No amount of deflection can wish this away.

Shape up or ship out!