“I Did Not Do It” — RCCG Pastor Adeboye Breaks Silence On Alleged Protest Against Jonathan In 2020

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has defined {that a} {photograph} exhibiting him holding a placard was taken throughout a 2020 prayer stroll in opposition to insecurity, below the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, and never in the course of the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Adeboye mentioned the {photograph} was misrepresented by a journalist, who allegedly portrayed the occasion as a protest in opposition to Jonathan, making many Nigerians imagine the declare with out verifying the details.

The cleric spoke in the course of the RCCG thanksgiving service on Sunday, the place he recounted how the {photograph} was used to painting him as a depraved individual for allegedly protesting in opposition to the previous president.

“Recently, just one mischievous 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 mentioned.

Adeboye mentioned the {photograph} confirmed him carrying a placard however insisted that the exercise was a prayer stroll organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), quite than a protest in opposition to Jonathan.

“True, I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It was not a protest; it was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray,” he mentioned.

According to the cleric, CAN had directed church buildings to organise prayer walks round their respective places, prompting him to take part within the train at Ebute Metta, Lagos.

He mentioned the {photograph} was taken in 2020, 5 years after Jonathan left workplace in 2015 and through Buhari’s second time period as president.

“But I carried the placard in 2020. Jonathan ceased to be president in 2015. I carried the placard five years into the second term of Buhari,” Adeboye mentioned.

The cleric expressed concern that the {photograph} had been used to advance a deceptive narrative about his actions, alleging that the journalist concerned didn’t confirm the circumstances surrounding the occasion.

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

Adeboye additionally recalled his publicity to journalism research throughout his college days, stressing the significance of verifying data earlier than publication.

In February 2020, Adeboye led members of the RCCG in an illustration in opposition to insecurity in Nigeria, calling consideration to the lack of lives attributable to insurgency and different safety challenges.

Buhari was president on the time, having served from 2015 to 2023, whereas Jonathan’s administration resulted in 2015.

Adeboye’s clarification highlights the significance of creating the context and date of pictures earlier than concluding public figures and their actions.