The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has dismissed reports linking a placard he carried during a prayer walk to a protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan, saying the incident happened about five years after Jonathan left office.
Speaking to his congregation on Sunday at the church’s November Thanksgiving service in Lagos, Adeboye accused journalists of misrepresenting his past actions and statements by stripping them of context.
He said the placard incident took place under former President Muhammadu Buhari, during a prayer walk held to express concern over insecurity and killings across the country. According to him, some reports wrongly presented it as an action against Jonathan, who left office in May 2015.
“Recently, just one mischievous somebody wrote in the papers, or said somehow, ‘Pastor Adeboye is a very wicked man. After all, we know that not too long ago, he carried a placard against President Goodluck Jonathan,’” he said.
Adeboye said he smiled when he first heard the claim, explaining that while he did carry a placard, it was not during Jonathan’s administration.
“I carried a placard five years in the second term of Buhari. But a journalist twisted and said I did what I did in 2015,” he said.
The 2020 prayer walk
On February 2, 2020, Adeboye led RCCG members on a prayer walk in Lagos to protest killings and insecurity nationwide. The walk followed a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to seek divine intervention over terrorism and other security challenges.
Reports at the time said the procession started from the RCCG national headquarters in Ebute Meta, moved towards Atan Cemetery in Yaba and returned to the church. Photographs showed Adeboye holding a placard that read, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”
The cleric said the exercise was part of a nationwide prayer walk directed by CAN, which asked churches to hold similar events in their locations. He insisted it was a religious activity and not a political demonstration.
He recalled that photographs of him with the placard were circulated, creating the impression that he had joined a political protest against Jonathan.
“Investigate before you publish”
Adeboye also accused journalists of failing to establish the circumstances behind the incident before publishing. He recalled taking Journalism 101 outside his faculty at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in the 1960s, where he learnt that appearances can be misleading.
“Things don’t appear as they may seem. Investigate, if you have a story, before you take it to the press, you investigate it,” he said.
Comments on Trump and Tinubu
The pastor also faulted media reports of his remarks on Nigeria’s security situation and US President Donald Trump’s threat of military action against the country.
He said he spoke for about 30 minutes during an engagement with some highly placed Americans, but a journalist extracted less than five minutes and presented it as his full position.
“I spoke for 30 minutes. I won’t want to use the word mischievous. Somebody took what I said, in less than 5 minutes, as if it is the whole speech,” he said.
Adeboye said he defended the Federal Government’s response to the abduction of some children in Orile, expressing confidence they would be rescued alive because he had prayed and received assurance from God that none would die.
He added that his comments on Trump and President Bola Tinubu were taken out of context. According to him, he argued that Tinubu, like Trump, had given instructions to security commanders and should not be blamed simply because he was not personally involved in the rescue.
“I said, our president has told his officers, go and get these children out. I said, once Trump finished giving his order, he went to bed. I said, don’t blame my president.
“He has already given instructions to his soldiers. He should be allowed, also, like Trump, to go to bed. That is required of a commander-in-chief to do,” he said.
Adeboye said he also told the Americans that while he appreciated Trump’s willingness to help, military intervention alone would not solve the country’s security challenges. He said he appealed to the US President not to bomb Nigeria but to help tackle those sponsoring terrorism.
He expressed disappointment that reports highlighted his defence of Tinubu but left out his appeal for more American assistance and his position on the proposed military action. This, he said, made it seem he opposed US intervention, when he had actually called for support against terrorism financiers.
“When I said, President of America, thank you, you have helped us, but you have not done enough. We still need help. But don’t bomb us anymore. I said that, that’s not news,” he said.
“If you want to help us, help us take care of those who are sponsoring terrorism, that’s not news. Don’t write that one.”
He added: “God have mercy on journalists.”
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