‘I Carried the Placard in 2020, Not Against Jonathan’ – Adeboye Explains Controversial Prayer Walk

Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has challenged reports claiming that he once carried a placard against former President Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that the activity was strictly a prayer exercise.

The cleric made the clarification on Sunday during the church’s November Thanksgiving service, accusing a journalist of distorting the incident and using it to portray him negatively.

According to Adeboye, he was amused when he first encountered the report describing him as a wicked person for allegedly carrying a placard against Jonathan.

“Recently, 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 did not deny carrying the placard but stressed that it was not intended as a political protest.

“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 disclosed that the activity was carried out following an instruction directing churches to embark on prayer walks within their respective communities and around their church premises.

“The chairman said all churches should do a prayer walk near their churches. That’s what I did,” he said.

To further challenge the report, Adeboye highlighted the year the exercise took place, noting that Jonathan had already left office five years earlier.

“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 maintained that the journalist had misrepresented his actions and faulted the publication for failing to establish the facts before circulating the allegation.

“But a journalist twisted it. I said, I did what I did in 2015. And everybody swallowed it,” he said.

The cleric also reflected on his experience with journalism education in the 1960s, recalling lessons on the need to investigate claims and establish the truth before taking stories to the press.

“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 emphasised the importance of thorough verification, adding, “That things don’t appear as they may seem. Investigate, if you have a story, before you take it to the press.”

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