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The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has explained the circumstances surrounding a prayer walk during which he was pictured carrying a placard, following reports linking the exercise to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Adeboye expressed surprise at the reports, saying there was no point denying the incident. However, he faulted the account that presented the exercise as a protest against Jonathan, insisting that it took place in 2020, five years after the former president left office.
The cleric spoke during the church’s November Thanksgiving service on Sunday, where he criticised journalists for allegedly misrepresenting the incident without verifying the facts.
He explained that the exercise was a prayer walk organised to seek divine intervention over insecurity and killings in the country.
Adeboye said the church leadership had directed congregations to organise prayer walks around their respective locations, adding that he participated in the exercise in Ebute Metta, Lagos.
He maintained that the photograph was genuine but questioned the claim that it showed him protesting against Jonathan with a placard while he was president.
“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.
The RCCG leader accused a journalist of changing the context of the incident and said the report was accepted without proper investigation.
“But a journalist twisted and said I did what I did in 2015. And everybody swallowed it,” he said.
Adeboye also recalled his experience studying at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in the 1960s, where he said he learnt about investigative journalism.
He said students were encouraged to take courses outside their primary areas of study, giving them opportunities to acquire knowledge from other disciplines.
Recalling what he learnt about journalism, he said: “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.
“That things don’t appear as they may seem. Investigate, if you have a story, before you take it to the press.”
He expressed disappointment that the journalist involved in the report allegedly failed to establish the actual date and purpose of the prayer walk.
“I’m talking to those of you in the creative industry. Nobody checked,” he said.
Adeboye also cited another incident in which he accused some media organisations of selectively reporting comments he made during an engagement with highly placed Americans over the abduction of schoolchildren in Nigeria.
He said he had spoken about the efforts being made to secure the release of the abducted children, including his belief that prayers were being answered.
According to him, he disagreed with a speaker who suggested that nothing was being done to rescue the children, explaining that he believed God had assured him that the children would survive.
Adeboye further recalled discussing the position of the United States and its president, Donald Trump, on Nigeria’s security challenges. He said his comments included an appeal for more assistance, particularly in addressing those sponsoring terrorism.
However, he alleged that a report published after the engagement focused on his statement that Nigeria’s president had done his best, while leaving out other parts of his remarks.
The cleric said he had spoken for about 30 minutes, but the report used less than five minutes of his comments, giving readers what he considered an incomplete account of the discussion.
He also said he had thanked the US president for the assistance offered but made it clear that Nigeria required further support.
Adeboye’s complaints centred on what he described as the media’s failure to provide the full context of his statements, urging journalists to investigate stories and avoid selective reporting.
He concluded his criticism with a remark directed at members of the profession: “God have mercy on journalists.”
