The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Enoch Adeboye, has reacted to claim that he protested against the administration of Goodluck Jonathan but refused to embark on a similar action with the government of President Bola Tinubu over his administration’s harsh economic policies.
The narrative has been pushed on social media for a while.
Mr Adeboye, who spoke on Sunday during a thanksgiving service held at the church’s headquarters in Lagos, said a Nigerian newspaper even pushed the falsehood.
He said, “I carried a placard against Jonathan? Everybody swallowed it. I carried a placard in 2020 in the second term of Buhari. Jonathan ceased to be President in 2015. Oh Lord have mercy. I’m talking to those of you in situations where you can influence opinions, where you can say something and people will believe it.
“They said Adeboye is a very wicked man. After all, we know that not too long ago, we carried a placard against President Goodluck Jonathan and everybody said yes, yes.
“They brought out the picture of where I was dressed in white and green, carrying a placard. Everybody said yeah, yeah, you should see him. When I heard about it, I said me? Yeah, we have the picture. I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It was important.
“But it was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray. The CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) chairman said all churches should do a prayer walk near their churches.
That’s what I did in the matter. A walk is a walk. Whether prayer walk or… and whoever heard of somebody carrying a placard on a walk.
“I did it because the CAN president said we should do so. You’re a terrible man they said. I smiled because I remember when I was in NSUKKA in the 1960s. In those days, if you’re a student, any subject at NSUKKA, you are free to go to any faculty and take a course or two just for enlargement of your knowledge.
“I remember, in those days in the department of journalism, you go there and you take some courses. I can’t remember the number now, whether journalism 101. They talked about something called investigative journalism.”
The cleric wondered how an event that occurred in 2020 could be twisted that it happened in 2015 and everyone believed without fact-checking.
He also noted that during the kidnap of schoolchildren and their teachers in three schools in Oyo State he had an opportunity to speak about the incident during a trip abroad.
The cleric added, “During that period when some children were kidnapped in Oriire, I had an opportunity to speak abroad to some highly-placed Americans and one of those who spoke before me spoke about the kidnapped children.
“And when it was my turn to speak, I said ‘Oh, he (the speaker before him) said nothing was being done for those people.’ I said, ‘that’s not true. God is already on the move for the Oriire schoolchildren.
Because I have prayed for them and God has told me, ‘none of those children will die. They will come out alive.’
“When Trump wanted to bomb us. He merely told his commanders, soldiers, officers, go and bomb Nigeria. As soon as he said that, he went to sleep. He has done all that is required of him. I said, our President has told his officers, go and get these children out. I said once Trump finished giving his orders, he went to bed.
“I said, don’t blame my President.
He has already given instruction to his soldiers. He should be allowed also, like Trump, to go to bed. He has done all that is required of the commander-in-chief to do.”
Mr Adeboye said he spoke for 30 minutes but someone took what he said in five minutes and twisted it like it was the entire speech.
He added, “The person said Adeboye said the President has done his best and you all swallowed it. Every other thing I said there, was not news. When I said, Oga President of America, thank you. You have helped us, but you have not done enough. We still need help. They don’t bomb us anymore. I said that, that’s not news. We don’t want Nigeria to be like that. If you want to help us, help us take care of those who are sponsoring terrorism, that’s not news.”
