Adeboye denies protesting against Jonathan’s government, says photograph was from ‘prayer walk’
Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has clarified that a viral photograph of him carrying a placard was taken during a prayer walk in 2020 and not a protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Adeboye gave the clarification during the church’s November Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, accusing a journalist of misrepresenting the photograph to portray him as having protested against Jonathan’s administration in 2015.
He admitted carrying the placard but explained that the activity was part of a prayer walk organised in response to a directive from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), which had declared three days of fasting and prayers.
“True, I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It was important. It was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray,” he said.
According to him, CAN had directed churches to organise prayer walks around their premises as part of the programme.
“The chairman said all churches should do a prayer walk near their churches. That’s what I did,” he added.
Adeboye said the prayer walk took place in 2020, during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term, five years after Jonathan left office in 2015. He accused the journalist of presenting the photograph as evidence of an earlier protest, adding that the claim was widely accepted.
On February 2, 2020, Adeboye led RCCG members on a prayer walk in Lagos over killings and insecurity across the country. Photographs from the event showed him carrying a placard bearing the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God”.
