On the Obi/Mbaka Matter
Val Obienyem

I have personally reached out to many people restraining them from attacking Fr. Ejike Mbaka because of the love for Peter Obi. If you truly respect him, please and please, do not attack Fr. Mbaka. In the first instance, His Excellency does not interpret the comments of Fr. Mbaka the way several observers do. While one may disagree with him, we should always acknowledge that he speaks and acts from the higher perspective of wisdom.

His Excellency believes that every situation, however unpleasant, has positive lessons for us. Only yesterday, His Excellency's younger brother, Rev. Fr. Obi had come to his house in Onitsha to celebrate mass for him. It is his habit to celebrate mass in the mornings before leaving for other engagements because he usually attends many other masses/Church services based on invitation. On some occasions, he arrives late or leaves before the mass ends in order to attend to others that invited him -- but always strengthened by the fact of having had a full mass.

Yesterday, Obi as usual, informed Fr. Mbaka that he would not stay for the bazaar since he had a meeting at Awka and a 3pm flight from Asaba to Lagos. The drama we do not want to start recalling made him miss the Awka meeting and Asaba flight and several events he had been billed to attend in Lagos, including end-of-year meeting of APU, Lagos Branch. Eventually, he made his trip on a 5.30pm flight from Akanu Ibiam [Enugu] Airport.

I witnessed all that transpired at Adoration Ground. Riding in the same car with His Excellency, he laughed over the encounter; remaining silent on what he thought about the incident. Noticing my displeasure, he told me calmly that whatever happened in our lives was part of the lessons of life and history that God used to teach us.

Many people are unaware that His Excellency's younger brother is a Priest and his elder sister a Reverend Sister. He has full respect for two of them for devoting their lives to the service of God. "Val," he had said to me, "likewise, I have full respect for other men of God and will always remember them in my prayers. When they go wrong as humans subject to human frailties, ours is not to castigate them, but to pray to God to lead them aright".

When I raised the issue of his tremendous contributions to the Church, he insisted that those contributions are not made for him to be remembered in the kind of way I was trying to do, but as an appreciation of God's love and benevolence to us. "Val”, he continued, “you know my views on this. donations to God, except when we have points to prove, they attract more rewards when done secretly".

What else do I say? Please let us leave Fr. Mbaka alone, our duty to him is prayers for God to lead him aright.

Valentine Obienyem is Media SA to Peter Obi...

Cc Lalasticlala

Peter Obi showed himself to be a true christian, and a man with a strong character.

Mbaka is the one who should bury his head in shame, if he understands what a shameful act is.