Biography Of Father Mbaka [Age, Family, Parents, Story, Wife, Children, Net Worth, History, Origin, & Profile]

Ejike Camillus Anthony Ebenezer Mbaka (born 28 July 1957) popularly known as Father Mbaka is a Catholic cleric, musician, and the founder of Adoration Ministries, Enugu, Nigeria. He is noted for being one of the most prominent religious leaders in the south-eastern part of Nigeria.

Early Life and Career

Mbaka was born on July 28, 1957 in Amata Ituku in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State, where he grew up with his family who were palm wine tappers. He attended St. Vincent’s Secondary School, Agbogugu in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State for his secondary education.

Mbaka attended Seat of Wisdom Seminary, Owerri, Imo State and St Joseph’s Seminary Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State, where he was trained for priesthood. On 29 July 1995, He was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, in the order of Melchizedek.

He was subsequently posted to Holy Ghost Cathedral, headquarters of Catholic Church in Enugu Diocese as the Assistant Diocesan Administrator.

He later ventured out on evangelical missions to Capuchin; a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, and Government Technical College (GTC), Enugu, where he founded the Word Prayer Centre of the Eucharistic Jesus which later metamorphosed to the Adoration Ministry, Enugu Nigeria (AMEN).

It was gathered that those early years of priesthood were unbearable for Mbaka as he would hold Mass at the GTC and shortly after the service; the church leadership would come and retrieve the offering. He was not allowed access to the offering; neither was he given accommodation.

At some point, he lived with a couple in their one-room apartment in the GRA; and most times slept in the car. It was from there that some members who saw the efficacy of his prayers rented a place for him before they eventually commenced putting up structures for the Christ the King’s Parish (CKP), which hosted the adoration ground at the GRA.

Huge crowds troop to the adoration ground every Friday from all parts of the country in search of spiritual encounter. The atmosphere is usually charged and electrifying such that one gets the exact buzz that goes with the Pentecostal fellowships.

According to one of the choristers in the ministry, Oluchi Okolo, the singers usually have their works cut out for them as they are expected to sing and keep everyone “in the realm of the spirit” until the man of God arrives. She said once the man of God is sighted, the atmosphere becomes more intense and shouts of “Daddy”, “Oga Ndi Oga”, “Nwa Ikuku”, “ Onyeisi Okanga”, “Oga Emma”, and so many other appendages with which Mbaka is known rend the air. She described the feeling as blissful.

The all-night service proper at the Adoration Ground can best be described as Pentecostal-Catholicism. Without being told, a first time visitor will think he was in a Pentecostal gathering until it was time for the Holy Communion and the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

Describing worship at the Adoration Ground, an observer wrote: ‘Worship here combines preaching, ecstatic Eucharistic adoration, two Masses, anointing and dance in a way that is hard to imagine for anyone who has not seen it before. Mbaka is a celebrity and a force in the entire South East region, supported by many followers and clergy.’

However, in 2016, Mbaka was transferred from the CKP where he had presided for 20 years to Our Lady’s Catholic Church, Emene; a small parish in an obscure part of Enugu as an assistant priest.

His exit from CKP on January 31, 2016 was a highly emotional exercise as he was escorted by thousands of Catholic faithful in Enugu to his new parish.

Several lorries, buses and cars all lined the street in what could be dubbed a triumphal exit that halted economic and other activities for over four hours along major streets where the long convoy passed.

Addressing the crowd before the movement, Mbaka had expressed reservations over the transfer, which he said was calculated to make him suffer by certain leaders of the church.

He said: “I know we are going to suffer within now and few months to come. I am going to suffer and suffer; I know that.

“I’m going to suffer because I have no place to put my head. I am going to suffer because I have no place to keep the Adoration Ministry’s assets. I know I’m going to suffer.

His exit from CKP on January 31, 2016 was a highly emotional exercise as he was escorted by thousands of Catholic faithful in Enugu to his new parish.

Several lorries, buses and cars all lined the street in what could be dubbed a triumphal exit that halted economic and other activities for over four hours along major streets where the long convoy passed.

Addressing the crowd before the movement, Mbaka had expressed reservations over the transfer, which he said was calculated to make him suffer by certain leaders of the church.

He said: “I know we are going to suffer within now and few months to come. I am going to suffer and suffer; I know that.

“I’m going to suffer because I have no place to put my head. I am going to suffer because I have no place to keep the Adoration Ministry’s assets. I know I’m going to suffer.

“Fortunately, it is going to happen in the month of lent. So, I am going to use my exit here as a Lenten observance./ but Jesus said it all in John 16:20 to his apostles that you will be sorrowful and the world will be rejoicing but very soon I will turn your sorrow to joy.

“The quantum of the assets of the Adoration Ministry is the only thing I am bothered about for now. Where am I going to keep them? I am going to stay in one small room that has only one small bed, one small table, little toilet and bathroom.

“So, where am I going to keep all the Adoration assets? My clothing and books I can keep in the car or somebody’s house but where will I keep these assets that I have given to the Catholic Church of Enugu? But I say may God take the glory and whoever that has offended me, I have forgiven.

“I won’t fight anybody or even dream of battling anybody. If anybody allows the devil to use him, the same that advised you to make a mistake will laugh at you when you cry over the error. The baby is born, there is no going back.

“We are moving out. We have been doing it and we will do it again.”

Actually, many had thought that heavens would fall over the transfer. The manner the whole thing died down attracted the envy of former Vice President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop John Praise Daniel who extolled the legendary discipline in the orthodox Catholic Church.

“I know if it were in a Pentecostal church, a church would have started the following day. A man with over 30, 000 worshippers still agreed to leave everything to one small church. It’s discipline,” he had remarked.

Mbaka’s closeness to Governor Ugwuanyi did not stop him from speaking out for the people as he openly decried the recent demolition of structures in Enugu by the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority in its bid to restore the original master plan of the capital city.

The outspoken priest had described the action of the Enugu State Government as an atrocity against the people.

According to him, the immensity of suffering and economic hardships in the country did not warrant the demolition of people’s shops without giving them time, or providing alternative areas for them.

“If you want to restore the master plan of 1933 in Enugu State, you should do it holistically. There are some areas where the master plan was flouted but because they belonged to the echelon political class, government is afraid of pulling the structures there down.

“What about Zoo Estate? The place that was made for animals’ residence is now being harboured by human beings, so, you don’t take justice one-sided; whoever errs must be punished. When I see you people destroying those ones, I now know that you are out to restore the original master plan of Enugu,” Mbaka stated.

Meanwhile mixed reactions have trailed the whole episode of his disappearance and reappearance. Former Federal Commissioner of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Executive Director of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), blamed the diocesan bishop for allowing him the latitude of growing wings within the church.

He urged the Bishop of Enugu diocese to go ahead and close down the Adoration Ground, saying Mbaka should be defrocked and laicized if he became rebellious. 

Onwubiko said: “I think the Bishop made a mistake to have allowed Rev Fr Mbaka to grow almost much bigger than his diocese by running his own ministry to the detriment of the core responsibilities for which he was ordained. 

IPOB seeks support for Mbaka

Meanwhile, the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in an audio broadcast has warned people from the South-East not to condemn the cleric.

Kanu reiterated that there are Nigerians like the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami and Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai who have grievous cases hanging on them, and appear to be sacred cows in Nigerian society.

“In a normal country so to speak, the condemnation of Father Mbaka, you may welcome it somehow. I know sometimes regardless of our shortcomings, we are brutal in the way we think. We see what is bad and say it’s bad.

“It doesn’t matter who is doing it. That’s why a lot of people came down heavily on Father Mbaka but I’m telling you this, yes in Biafra, we can do anything we like to him. But, in Nigeria, as far as Nigeria is concerned, never ever condemn your own,” Kanu said.

Charity

In early 2020, Fr. Mbaka shocked both his followers and non-followers alike when he disclosed that he spends about $2 million (over N700 million) monthly on charity works. The priest through his Multi-Live Savers for the Less Privileged has positively changed the lives of many indigent persons nationwide.

During the event marking his 25th year of priestly ordination, one of his followers, Anita Ogonna, praised him saying: “Fr Mbaka, you are not a saint or the best among all, but I respect you so much in all your physical and spiritual doings, you are a man who converted his money for private jet to give many poor people a home, you converted your pomposity to give young people hope, you restored many even at the point of death. You did not consider your ministry as a competition with others. You are really a shadow of emulation, prophet of contentment, man of generosity, prophet of humility, prophet of the poor, one among the givers of our time”.

The priest distributed over 4,000 bags of rice, condiments and clothes to less privileged members of the adoration family as part of his 2018 Christmas and New Year gifts.

Haruna Ayuba who led a group of Northern Christians to the programme said: “All these good works and miracles of God through Fr Mbaka still confirm that in spite of all the attacks on him, the hand of God is still upon him and his ministry.”

Politics

On 31 December 2014, Mbaka told a congregation that the then president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had failed to stem the tide of insecurity and corruption in the country, and urged them to vote the administration out. Fr. Mbaka’s call for a change in administration is in tandem with his priestly-prophetic ministry. Fr. Mbaka has been consistent in directing, advising and forewarning every administration in Nigeria since he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest.

On 28 April 2021, Mbaka called on President Buhari to resign from his office over the worsening insecurities in Nigeria. In response to Mbaka’s call, the Nigerian Presidency released a statement through Garba Shehu that Mbaka is allegedly angry because President Buhari ignored his request for contracts after he asked for contracts as compensation for his support in 2015 and 2019.

On 16 June 2022, the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Enugu, Nigeria, AMEN, Fr Ejike Mbaka has revealed why Presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi will never become the next President of Nigeria.

The fiery Priest who made this known at the Adoration ground said that Mr Obi is stingy and has been cursed, stressing that it would be better to have an old man as President than a ‘stingy young man’.

Hear him, “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. 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.

“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 round 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.

“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.

“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.

It was once alleged that there occurred incidents of rivalry, but this false rumor was debunked by both the Reverend Fathers Mbaka and Emmanuel Obimma(Ebube Muonso).

Parents and Family Life

Fr. Mbaka is the only son of late Chief Humphrey and Felicia Mbaka. He hails from Amata Ituku in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State. Humphrey Mbaka’s family stood out for their special talent in palm wine tapping in the community. Ejike as a child helped his father in his palm wine business. He was also close to his mother as he always helped out in domestic chores.

Despite the demand of domestic activities, the young Mbaka also devoted time to Block Rosary. He stood out as one of the leaders of the group at St. Anthony’s Parish, Ituku where he led the prayer team. His father, who was a traditional religion worshipper, seemed to have tolerated his tilt to Christianity until he declared his intention to enter priesthood. This was met with stiff resistance by his late father who allegedly made life a living hell for the intending priest.

Married? Wife and Children

Father Mbaka is a Catholic cleric and can not marry or have children of his own. As a priest, Father Mbaka is currently not married and does not have any children.

Net Worth

Father Mbaka’s net worth as of 2022 is estimated at around $8.5 million – $15 million.