Catholic cleric, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka, who is the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Enugu, blew into fame following his prophecy that Muhammadu Buhari would win the 2015 presidential election.
His correct prediction would later see him become the darling of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and enjoying access to the President until for some reasons, things eventually fell apart.
Following the fulfillment of his prophecy, his eventual association with a man who was not well liked or accepted as the legitimate winner of the 2015 election, turned millions of Nigerians particularly from the South, against him.
However, with the relationship between Mbaka and the Presidency now frosty, Mbaka has said contrary to what Nigerians came to believe, he was never responsible for Buhari's emergence as president.
He explained that all he did was prophesy what he saw, but not responsible for the outcome, but those who voted.
“When I was saying that Buhari would be President, there was nobody I told to vote Buhari, " he said at the Adoration ground on New Year’s Day.
“People were quoting me out of context. I said it was revealed to me that Buhari would be President (in 2015), does that mean I said you should vote him?
“It is vision, but I said if he begins to mess up, that I will attack him. It is in the tape. And he messed up and I started attacking him,” he added.
Similarly, Buhari’s former presidential running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said the decision of Nigerians to reject former President Goodluck Jonathan in favor of President Muhammadu Buhari, was based on their belief that anyone who "once served as a military head of state, that once he becomes president, Nigeria will be better and progressive," not because he encouraged anyone to vote for Buhari.
“Things have turned upside down. They say the elders are the ones disrupting the nation, but it started with the youths. The coup plotters in the military — there are people that were 20 years old, 30 years old — they are the ones that brought us to where we are. They brought us here before they grew old in the job and refused to leave,” Bakare said while speaking with BBC Yoruba.
“If a military takes over a country, they won’t leave until things become bad. They will plunder every conceivable object is gone. However, there are still good ones among the bad eggs.
“Our leaders are corrupt. Let’s assume the military destroyed the government, what happened to our civilian government? Although many of them moved from the military, we still don’t know if we are in a military or civilian era. Nigeria will continue to deteriorate unless we turn around and make amends and ask those stronger than us to help us.
“I was in my house when I started the Save Nigeria Group. It was to help the country. I never knew (Goodluck) Jonathan or (Umaru) Yar’Adua. God only showed me a vision and I started moving around, saying ‘do not let Nigeria go bad’. Professor Wole Soyinka, (Retired Gen. Alani) Akinrinade, renowned people of Yoruba extraction joined us.
“That was where Buhari first saw me and decided he could bring me close. We too, we wanted to know his intentions for Nigeria. That was how we met in Kaduna. I had in mind to help Nigeria but when (Obafemi) Awolowo could not become the president, as a good person, I washed my hands off.
“People thought someone who had once served as a military head of state, that once he becomes president, Nigeria will be better and progressive but instead of things to get better, everything has worsened.
“But God is not asleep. Some of my friends accuse me of bringing Buhari to power. I explained to them that he is someone I used to see and discuss the way forward with, that he would listen but once you leave, nothing comes out of the discussion. Then I decided to stay back," he added.