The Spiritual Director of the Catholic Adoration Chaplaincy in Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, warned that the ongoing naira crisis will jeopardise the forthcoming elections unless it is addressed immediately. He delivered this warning during the first Sunday ministration at the Adoration Ground in Umuchigbo, Nike, lamenting that President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and the Federal Government chose to implement the currency policy only as the general elections approached, despite having eight years to do so. Mbaka cautioned that both the President and the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, will suffer if they fail to reverse the crisis.
The cleric argued that there is no justification for the unimaginable hardship the regime has inflicted on Nigerians. “Do you think Nigerians will vote if this situation continues?” he asked, describing the current state as “a coup d’état on democracy.” He questioned why the government delayed action, noting that eight years should have been sufficient to stabilise the economy. “No job, no food, no house,” he said, adding that people are forced to sell money rather than dollars, and that obtaining naira has become harder than acquiring foreign currency.
Mbaka warned that the suffering will continue unless the President and the CBN Governor act promptly. “I am giving both of them a mandate from heaven; if they do not react immediately and stop this self‑imposed wicked suffering, they will themselves suffer,” he declared. He described the chaos of people sleeping in banks to retrieve their funds, a situation he said has never occurred elsewhere. Parents are unable to buy food for their children, and the newly designed currency—flawed in colour and design—offers no relief.
Turning to the upcoming elections, Mbaka asked, “Will dead men vote?” He urged fellow clergy to speak out, saying, “Men of God, you better open your mouths. I have returned from the monastery to see my people in suffering and agony. It is time to tell Pharaoh, ‘let my people go.’” He lamented that parents now spend their nights at ATMs or filling stations, emphasizing that the government’s actions are killing people faster than kidnappers ever could. Access to healthcare has become impossible; by the time a doctor is alerted, the patient is often already dead.
According to Mbaka, over 99 percent of Nigeria’s population is ignorant of the new naira policy, which he called “evil in the land.” He questioned why the old naira is being withdrawn before the new one is ready. He returned to find that, despite claims of job creation, more Nigerians have lost their jobs. “The present government must change, or you will hear the cries of the people you have invited to suffer,” he warned. He listed the regions in anguish—Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, Niger Delta, and the Middle Belt—asking, “Who are you now leading?”
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