[TRENDING VIDEO] I did not carry placard in protest against ex-President Jonathan — Pastor Adeboye
General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has accused journalists of misrepresenting the date of a prayer walk during which he carried a placard, claiming that the incident was wrongly linked to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Adeboye clarified that the event took place in 2020, five years after Jonathan left office in 2015. He explained that the exercise was organised to pray against insecurity and killings across the country, not to protest against the former president.
The cleric made the clarification on Sunday during the church’s November Thanksgiving service, recalling how a report allegedly portrayed him as a wicked person for carrying a placard against Jonathan.
He criticised the publication for gaining public attention without proper verification of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
“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 initially smiled after hearing about the report, maintaining that while he did carry a placard, it was part of a prayer walk rather than a political protest against Jonathan.
“True, I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It was important. It was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray,” he said.
He explained that the activity followed an instruction 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 said.
The RCCG leader stressed that the timing of the event disproved the claim that he had protested against Jonathan while he was still president.
“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,” Adeboye said.
He accused the journalist responsible for the report of distorting the facts and faulted the failure to investigate the matter before publication.
“But a journalist twisted it. I said, I did what I did in 2015. And everybody swallowed it,” he said.
Adeboye also reflected on his exposure to journalism studies in the 1960s, recalling lessons about investigative reporting and the importance of verifying information before publishing a story.
“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.
He further emphasised the need for journalists to investigate stories rather than rely on appearances.
“That things don’t appear as they may seem. Investigate, if you have a story, before you take it to the press.”
Speaking directly to members of the creative industry, the cleric expressed disappointment that the report had circulated without adequate fact-checking.
“I’m talking to those of you in the creative industry. Nobody checked,” he said.
On 2 February 2020, Adeboye led RCCG members on a prayer walk in Lagos to express concern over killings and insecurity in Nigeria.
The exercise followed a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), seeking divine intervention and renewed efforts to address terrorism and other security challenges.
Reports published at the time indicated that the procession started at the RCCG’s national headquarters in Ebute Meta, Lagos, moved towards Atan Cemetery in Yaba and later returned to the church.
Photographs from the event showed Adeboye holding a placard bearing the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”
The prayer walk took place under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who succeeded Jonathan in May 2015.
The photograph later circulated on social media alongside claims that Adeboye had staged a protest against Jonathan’s government.