General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has criticised journalists over reports allegedly misrepresenting the circumstances surrounding a prayer walk during which he carried a placard in 2020.
Adeboye said the exercise, which was organised to pray against insecurity and killings in Nigeria, was wrongly presented as an action against former President Goodluck Jonathan, who left office in 2015.
The cleric spoke on Sunday during the church’s November Thanksgiving service, where he recalled how a media report portrayed him as a wicked person for allegedly carrying a placard against Jonathan while he was president.
According to Adeboye, the report gained public acceptance despite the failure of the journalist involved to establish the actual date and purpose of the exercise.
“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.
The RCCG leader said he was initially amused when he heard about the publication, noting that although he indeed carried a placard, the event was a prayer walk and had nothing to do with protesting 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 exercise was organised in response to a directive asking churches to hold prayer walks within their communities.
“The chairman said all churches should do a prayer walk near their churches. That’s what I did,” he said.
Adeboye maintained that the date of the exercise alone was enough to disprove the claim that he carried the placard against Jonathan, who was succeeded by former President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2015.
“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 of deliberately distorting the account and expressed disappointment that the publication was widely believed without proper verification.
“But a journalist twisted it. I said, I did what I did in 2015. And everybody swallowed it,” he said.
Reflecting on his understanding of journalism, the cleric recalled taking courses related to the profession in the 1960s, when he learnt about investigative reporting and the importance of establishing facts 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 stressed that journalists should not rely on appearances or unverified claims when reporting events.
“That things don’t appear as they may seem. Investigate, if you have a story, before you take it to the press.”
Addressing members of the creative industry, Adeboye said he was disappointed that nobody appeared to have made efforts to verify the details before accepting the report.
“I’m talking to those of you in the creative industry. Nobody checked,” he said.
On February 2, 2020, Adeboye led members of the RCCG on a prayer walk in Lagos to express concern over the rising cases of killings and insecurity across the country.
The exercise followed a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), which called for divine intervention and renewed efforts to address terrorism and other security challenges.
Media reports at the time indicated that the procession started from the RCCG national headquarters in Ebute Meta, Lagos, moved towards Atan Cemetery in Yaba and later returned to the church.
Photographs from the exercise showed Adeboye holding a placard with the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”
The prayer walk was held during Buhari’s administration, five years after Jonathan handed over power in May 2015.
