‘It Was a Prayer Walk’ — Pastor Adeboye Denies Carrying Placard Against Jonathan

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has denied carrying a placard in protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that the exercise was a prayer walk held in 2020 to pray against insecurity and killings in Nigeria.

Adeboye made the clarification on Sunday during the church’s November Thanksgiving service, reacting to reports and social media claims linking a photograph of him carrying a placard to Jonathan’s administration.

The cleric acknowledged that he carried the placard but said the event had been misrepresented 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.

Adeboye explained that the exercise followed a directive from the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) asking churches to organise prayer walks around their premises.

He said the purpose was to seek divine intervention over insecurity, killings and other security challenges confronting the country, rather than oppose any particular administration.

The RCCG leader challenged the timeline attached to the photograph, noting that the exercise took place in 2020, five years after Jonathan left office in May 2015.

“But I carried the placard in 2020. Jonathan ceased to be president in 2015,” Adeboye said, adding that the event occurred during the second term of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He criticised the journalist responsible for the report, accusing the individual of twisting the circumstances surrounding the photograph and failing to verify the date before publication.

Adeboye also expressed disappointment that the account had circulated without sufficient fact-checking, urging media practitioners to investigate claims before presenting them to the public.

Recalling his exposure to journalism studies in the 1960s, the cleric stressed the importance of investigative journalism and establishing the facts behind a story.

“Things don’t appear as they may seem. Investigate, if you have a story, before you take it to the press,” he said.

The prayer walk took place in Lagos on February 2, 2020, as part of a wider Christian prayer initiative addressing insecurity and killings across Nigeria. Photographs from the event showed Adeboye carrying a placard bearing the message, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”

The clarification has renewed discussion about the circulation of old photographs without accurate context, with Adeboye urging journalists and members of the public to verify information before sharing it.