Adeboye Denies Protesting Against Jonathan Administration
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has dismissed claims that he carried a placard in protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that the incident occurred in 2020, five years after Jonathan left office.
Adeboye said the placard-carrying exercise was a prayer walk organised to seek divine intervention over insecurity, killings and other security challenges facing Nigeria, not a demonstration against Jonathan’s administration.
The cleric made the clarification on Sunday while addressing his congregation during the church’s November Thanksgiving service.
He expressed disappointment with journalists who allegedly misrepresented the incident and circulated reports suggesting that he had protested against Jonathan while he was president.
According to him, although he actually carried a placard during the exercise, the event took place in 2020 under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“True, I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It was important. It was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray,” Adeboye said.
He explained that the exercise followed a directive for churches to organise prayer walks around their premises.
“The chairman said all churches should do a prayer walk near their churches. That’s what I did,” he added.
Adeboye further stressed that Jonathan left office in May 2015, while the prayer walk took place in February 2020.
“But I carried the placard in 2020. Jonathan ceased to be president in 2015. I carried the placard five years in the second term of Buhari,” he said.
The cleric accused a journalist of twisting the facts and criticised those who circulated the report without verifying the actual circumstances surrounding the incident.
He also recalled his exposure to journalism studies in the 1960s, noting that investigative journalism requires reporters to verify information before publishing stories.
“I remember in those days in the Department of Journalism, when you go there and you take a course, they talked about something called investigative journalism,” he said.
Adeboye added that journalists should investigate stories rather than rely on appearances or unverified claims.
On February 2, 2020, Adeboye led RCCG members on a prayer walk in Lagos following a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
The procession began at the church’s national headquarters in Ebute Meta, proceeded towards Atan Cemetery in Yaba and returned to the church.
Photographs from the exercise showed Adeboye carrying a placard with the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”
