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Bad Governance: Mbaka Asks Buhari to Apologise to Nigerians
Ejike Mbaka, a Catholic priest, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to apologise to Nigerians for bad governance.
In his homily on Sunday, the spiritual director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Nigeria (AMEN), said the recent #EndSARS protest was not just against police brutality but also bad governance.
“The living government needs to apologise, and they should also apologise for the errors of past governments,” he said in a message entitled, ‘Impure heart’.
The Catholic priest was Buhari’s cheerleader when he contested for president in 2015.
In an address entitled, ‘From good luck (in mockery of former president Goodluck Jonathan) to bad luck’, he said Buhari was the “saviour” Nigeria needed and asked Nigerians to vote for him.
Shortly after the president was elected, he hosted Mbaka in Abuja, describing him as a “man of courage”.
In his latest sermon, however, Mbaka said the president has surrounded himself with “criminals” and “hooligans”.
“Buhari, who could have been a solution to this, succeeded in encircling himself with criminals and hooligans, people who do not just tell him lies, but rather, they magnify lies and feed him!” he said.
“This is not about #EndSARS or IPOB. Nobody is fighting any government, we are fighting bad governance. “This country can never be the same again!
“Did you expect these young men to keep watching the country being swindled and looted dry by the so-called leaders?
“Some of the young men, who are now fast getting old, had started working for the criminals in authority, hooligans in power, since they were very young.
“I know that by the time some of the leaders listen to this message, they will begin to attack Fr. Mbaka. But that is their headache, not mine. One day, enough will be enough. Look at crime upon crime.
“The people that you have not given jobs, you have not given food, you have not given security, housing, power; and they have no food to eat nor water to drink; no quality hospital and no good roads, among others, and they had endured all the while.
“Just one day that they came out to say they are not happy, you began to kill them. And after killing them, you carry their corpses and dump inside rivers and valleys? Nigeria can never be the same again!”
The priest added that the “hooligans in power” think that “the world is their home,” accusing them of looting Nigeria’s common wealth.
“They have acquired houses and other possessions in Abuja and other areas within and outside the country, with our wealth, but they cannot be wise to build good industries to provide jobs for our growing youths. That is my worry,” he said.
“Our leaders seem to be reaping the seeds that they had planted. When somebody that you had not given job comes out to say that he is hungry and angry, it was you that attracted such protest, in the first place.”
TheCable
The Supreme Court has vacated the order of the Court of Appeal which barred the recognition of David Mark as the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
The apex court on Thursday held that the preservative order by the Court of Appeal was in bad faith, unnecessary, unwarranted and improper.
In a unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court, Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba held that the Court of Appeal ought not to have made such order because it was not sought by any of the parties in the matter.
The Court of Appeal had issued an order of status quo antem bellum upon which the ADC exco under David Mark was de-recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
With the vacation of the order, David Mark and the other national officers are to be recognized as ADC leaders by the electoral body.
The convention produced the Tanimu Turaki-led factional national executives of the party.
Attention has shifted to the Supreme Court, which has fixed April 30 (today) for judgment in the leadership tussle within the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
A five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba will resolve the appeal filed by the David Mark-led faction concerning the authentic leadership of the party.
Also on Thursday, the court is expected to determine the leadership dispute rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Two PDP factions—one led by Kabir Turaki and the other by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike—are laying claim to the leadership of the party.
The Supreme Court had on April 22 reserved judgment in the ADC crisis to a date to be communicated to the parties involved in the tussle.
However, on Tuesday, the ADC formally wrote to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, pleading for the quick delivery of judgment in the leadership tussle at the national level.
The party claimed it would suffer irreparable harm if judgment in the protracted battle was not delivered within the period allowed by the Electoral Act for fielding candidates for the 2027 general elections.
It stated in part: “Without the delivery of judgment within the next three days from the date of this letter, the ADC stands the grave and irreversible risk of being excluded from participating in the 2027 general elections.
“This would disenfranchise millions of Nigerians who have subscribed to the ideals of the ADC and deny them their constitutional right to freely associate and contest elections through a political party of their choice.”
At the April 22 hearing, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, who represented David Mark, urged the Supreme Court to allow the appeal, arguing that the apex court had earlier, on March 21, 2025, held that “no court has jurisdiction to entertain matters bordering on the internal affairs of political parties.”
During the hearing, Okutepa urged the apex court to hold that the Federal High Court in Abuja lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
However, Robert Emukperu, SAN, who represented the first respondent, Nafiu Gombe, urged the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the judgment of the lower court, which held that the suit was premature.
It will be recalled that a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal dismissed Mark’s appeal, ruling that it was premature and filed without leave of the trial court.
In the PDP matter, the first appeal, marked SC/CV/164/2026, stems from a decision of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who restrained the party from proceeding with its planned convention pending the determination of a suit filed by former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido.
On November 14, the court issued a final order restraining the PDP from conducting its national convention.
Justice Lifu held that Lamido was “unjustly denied” the opportunity to obtain a nomination form to contest for national chairman, in violation of the PDP constitution and internal regulations.
The Court of Appeal later upheld the decision on March 9, prompting the PDP to appeal.
The second appeal, SC/CV/166/2026, was filed by the PDP, its National Working Committee (NWC), and National Executive Committee (NEC).
It arose from a judgment delivered by Justice James Omotosho, which stopped the party from holding its Ibadan national convention.
The Court of Appeal upheld that decision, agreeing that INEC should not validate the outcome of the convention.
After hearing all arguments, the Supreme Court reserved judgment, stating that the date would be communicated to the parties.
