The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has accused journalists of misrepresenting a 2020 prayer walk by falsely linking it to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Adeboye said the incident occurred five years after Jonathan left office in 2015, insisting that the exercise was organised to pray against insecurity and killings across the country.
The cleric spoke on Sunday during the church’s November Thanksgiving service, where he criticised a report that portrayed him as having carried a placard against Jonathan while he was president.
He acknowledged carrying a placard but maintained that the exercise was a prayer walk rather than a political protest against the former president.
“True, I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It was important. It was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray,” he said.
Adeboye explained that the exercise followed a directive for churches to organise prayer walks around their premises.
He said, “The chairman said all churches should do a prayer walk near their churches. That’s what I did.”
The cleric maintained that the date of the exercise disproved the claim linking it to Jonathan’s administration, noting that it took place in 2020, when former President Muhammadu Buhari was in office.
“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.
He accused the journalist responsible for the report of distorting the facts and faulted the failure to verify the circumstances surrounding the incident before publication.
Adeboye also recalled his exposure to journalism studies in the 1960s, stressing the importance of investigative journalism and fact-checking before publishing reports.
He urged journalists to investigate stories rather than rely on appearances or unverified claims.
“Investigate, if you have a story, before you take it to the press,” he said.
He further expressed disappointment that members of the creative industry had accepted the report without checking its accuracy.
On February 2, 2020, Adeboye led members of the RCCG 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 to seek divine intervention over terrorism and other security challenges.
The procession reportedly started 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 bearing the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”
The prayer walk took place under Buhari’s administration, which succeeded Jonathan’s government in May 2015.
The photograph later circulated on social media alongside claims that Adeboye had protested against Jonathan’s administration.