A protester demanded the transfer of the Catholic bishop of the Enugu Diocese.
Several followers of the outspoken Catholic priest, Ejike Mbaka, on Sunday, protested the recent ban of the church members from attending services at the Adoration Ministry.
The Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Callistus Onaga, Friday, banned Catholic members from attending activities at the ministry, following scathing remarks against Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, by Mr Mbaka, who is the spiritual director of the ministry.
Mr Mbaka, during his weekly ministration service, on Wednesday, said Mr Obi would not be president of Nigeria in 2023 because he is a “stingy man who does not give out money to people.”
He also said unless Mr Obi returned to his ministry to apologise for refusing to make a donation to the ministry when he was asked to do so, his ambition to become president of Nigeria would be fruitless.
Many Nigerians, including the diocese, criticised him over his comment on Mr Obi.
The cleric later apologised to the former governor and his supporters saying that his intent was not to malign the LP presidential candidate.
The ban came hours after the cleric’s apology for the outburst.
Mr Onaga, while announcing the ban, explained that the decision was taken because of Mr Mbaka’s refusal to heed several “fraternal corrections and admonitions” extended to him by the diocesan leadership.
He said Catholic members remained banned from attending all religious and liturgical activities of the ministry until the “due process initiated by the diocese is concluded.”
Hours after the ban went public, the cleric announced the suspension of all religious programmes in the ministry beginning from Sunday (today) until further notice.
Although no reason was given for the sudden suspension, it is believed to be in obedience to the ban on Catholic members by Mr Onaga.
But on Sunday, barely two days after, many of the cleric’s followers marched around some streets close to the ministry’s ground at Emene, chanting solidarity songs.
They also demanded the removal of Mr Onaga as the bishop of the diocese.
A video clip of the protest has gone viral on social media.
In the clip, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the protesters were seen carrying green leaves and sticks and chanting “Onaga must go,” “No more Onaga,” “No more Catholic Church”.
The protesters said they were not happy with the Bishop’s decision to ban Catholic members from attending the ministry.
“Onaga should leave. Other bishops are not talking except him. He should be posted elsewhere,” said one of the protesters.
