The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has accused journalists of misrepresenting the date he carried a placard during a prayer walk, alleging that the report falsely linked the incident to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Adeboye stated that the incident occurred in 2020, five years after Jonathan left office in 2015. He insisted that the procession was organised to pray against insecurity and killings in the country. The cleric spoke to his congregation on Sunday during the church’s November thanksgiving service, recounting how the report portrayed him as a wicked man for carrying a placard allegedly directed against the former president.
He noted that the report gained widespread acceptance without journalists verifying 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 admitted that he carried a placard but maintained it was a prayer walk rather than a protest.
Adeboye explained that the exercise followed a directive for churches to organise prayer walks around their premises by CAN. The cleric stressed that the timeline contradicted the claim that he had protested against Jonathan while he was 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 stated. He accused the journalist of twisting the facts and criticised the failure to investigate the circumstances before publication.
Adeboye recalled his exposure to journalism studies in the 1960s, noting that he learned about investigative journalism and the necessity of verifying information. Addressing members of the creative industry, he expressed disappointment that the report had been accepted without proper checks.
On February 2, 2020, Adeboye led members of the RCCG on a prayer walk in Lagos to express concern over killings and insecurity across Nigeria. The exercise followed a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by the Christian Association of Nigeria to seek divine intervention against terrorism and security challenges.
According to reports published at the time, the procession began at the RCCG national headquarters in Ebute Meta, Lagos, proceeded towards Atan Cemetery in Yaba, and returned to the church. Photographs from the event showed Adeboye carrying a placard bearing the inscription, ‘All Souls Are Precious to God’. The walk took place during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who succeeded Jonathan in May 2015.