The presidency has alleged that popular Catholic cleric, Father Mbaka, who supported President Buhari but has now turned against him is angry because his request for contracts was ignored.
Father Mbaka, who supported Buhari in his first and second term elections, recently called on the National Assembly to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari if he failed to resign over rising insecurity in the country.
In its reaction on Friday, the presidency said Mr Mbaka recently “asked for contracts as compensation for his support.”
“An outsider distilling the avalanche of verbiage will be surprised that after supporting the President two times to win the Presidency, Father Mbaka has made a complete U-Turn, preposterously asking President Buhari to resign or be impeached.
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“Here is the point of departure: Father Mbaka asked for a meeting and to the shock of Presidential Aides, he came accompanied by three contractors. The President graciously allowed them in, and to everyone’s surprise, Father Mbaka asked for contracts as compensation for his support,” the presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu said.
He added that, “Anyone familiar with President Buhari knows that he doesn’t break the laid down rules in dealing with contracts or any other government business for that matter. He requested the appropriate authorities to deal with the matter in accordance with laid down rules.
“Inside the Villa, discretion prevailed, that if those pictures and requests were made public, the followers will turn against the religious leader. None of it was released. Now, this is what is eating Father Mbaka.”
Father Mbaka was earlier reported to have called for President Buhari’s impeachment at a Church service, where he lamented the state of insecurity across the country and called on the presidency to address the numerous challenges facing the country.