President Muhammadu Buhari has said fiery Catholic preacher Ejike Mbaka was angry because he didn’t meddle with contract awards for him.

Mr Buhari, through his spokesman Garba Shehu, said Mr Mbaka came to the Presidential Villa with three contractors, but their attempt to convince the president into influencing government projects in their favour failed.

The president’s statement came a day after Mr Mbaka’s video surfaced on the Internet in which he demanded Mr Buhari’s resignation, accusing him of being evil who plunged Nigeria into chaos. The priest also praised Nnamdi Kanu, saying the separatist leader had done well in defending the Igbos.

Mr Mbaka could not be reached for comments Friday night, but the preacher has frequently said he was not interested in government contracts, financial support or any other forms of political favour.

Read the presidency’s full statement as published on Twitter below:

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.

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.

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.