Photo: Pastor Adeboye
Mandy Park
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has dismissed reports that he protested against the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, describing the incident as a prayer walk organised to seek divine intervention over Nigeria’s security challenges.
Adeboye said the photograph showing him carrying a placard was taken during a prayer walk in February 2020, five years after Jonathan left office in May 2015.
The cleric made the clarification while addressing members of his church, expressing displeasure over what he described as the misrepresentation of the circumstances surrounding the photograph.
He explained that although he carried a placard during the exercise, it was not a political protest against Jonathan or any government.
According to him, the prayer walk was organised following a directive by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, urging churches across the country to embark on prayer walks around their places of worship.
Adeboye said he participated in the exercise at the RCCG headquarters in Ebute Meta, Lagos, as part of efforts to pray against insecurity, killings and other challenges confronting the country.
He said, “True, I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It wasn’t a protest; it was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray.”
The cleric recalled that the exercise was organised in response to the CAN leadership’s directive and was not targeted at any political office holder.
He further challenged the accuracy of reports linking the photograph to Jonathan’s presidency, pointing out that the former president had left office in 2015, while the prayer walk took place in 2020 during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“But I carried the placard in 2020. Jonathan ceased to be president in 2015. I carried the placard five years into Buhari’s administration, but it was twisted that I did what I did in 2015, and everybody swallowed it,” he said.
The photograph, which showed Adeboye dressed in white and green attire carrying a placard bearing the inscription, ‘All Souls Are Precious to God’, had subsequently circulated on social media, with claims that the cleric participated in a protest against Jonathan.
The February 2020 exercise was held amid growing concerns over insecurity, terrorism and killings in different parts of the country.
It followed a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by CAN to seek divine intervention in the nation’s security situation.
Adeboye also criticised the failure to properly investigate the circumstances surrounding the photograph before reports were published, stressing the importance of verification and investigative journalism.
Recalling his exposure to journalism studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in the 1960s, he said journalists had a responsibility to investigate stories and establish facts before presenting them to the public.
The RCCG leader maintained that his interventions on national issues were motivated by concern for Nigeria’s wellbeing and not partisan political interests.
He urged journalists and other media practitioners to uphold professional standards by verifying information and establishing the facts before publication.
