Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has accused journalists of misrepresenting the date on which he carried a placard during a prayer walk, claiming that the report wrongly tied the incident to the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Adeboye stated that the incident took place in 2020, five years after Jonathan left office in 2015, and maintained that the walk was organized to pray against insecurity and killings in the country.
The cleric made this known to his congregation on Sunday during the church’s November Thanksgiving service, where he recounted how the report depicted him as a wicked man for carrying a placard allegedly directed at the former president.
He noted that the report was widely accepted 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 stated that he initially smiled when he learned about the report, insisting that although he carried a placard, the incident was a prayer walk rather than a 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.
The cleric explained that the exercise followed a directive for churches to organize 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 cleric said the date of the incident contradicted the claim that he had carried the placard 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 said.
Adeboye accused the journalist of twisting the facts and criticized the failure to investigate the circumstances before publishing the report.
“But a journalist twisted it. I said, I did what I did in 2015. And everybody swallowed it,” he said.
The pastor also recalled his exposure to journalism studies in the 1960s, saying he learned about investigative journalism and the need to verify information before publication.
“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 added, “Things don’t appear as they may seem. Investigate if you have a story before you take it to the press.”
Speaking to members of the creative industry, Adeboye voiced his disappointment that the report had been accepted without proper checks.
“I’m talking to those of you in the creative industry. Nobody checked,” he said.
On February 2, 2020, Adeboye led RCCG members on a prayer walk in Lagos to voice concern about killings and insecurity throughout Nigeria.
The exercise came after a three-day fasting and prayer program declared by the Christian Association of Nigeria, aimed at seeking divine intervention and bolstering efforts to address terrorism and other security challenges.
As reported at the time, the procession started at the RCCG’s national headquarters in Ebute Meta, Lagos, moved toward Atan Cemetery in Yaba, and then returned to the church.
Photographs from the event showed Adeboye holding a placard with the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”
The walk occurred during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who took over from Jonathan in May 2015.
The photograph was later shared on social media along with claims that Adeboye had protested against Jonathan’s government.
