Adeboye: I Did Not Protest Against Jonathan with Placard
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has dismissed claims that he carried a placard in protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan, clarifying that the photograph in circulation was taken during a prayer walk in 2020.
Adeboye addressed the issue on Sunday during the church’s November Thanksgiving service.
He accused some journalists of misrepresenting the date and purpose of the event, saying the report portrayed him as a “wicked man” for allegedly protesting against Jonathan.
“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 explained that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had directed churches to organise prayer walks near their premises to seek divine intervention over insecurity and killings in the country. He participated in the walk in Ebute Metta, Lagos.
The cleric stressed the timeline to refute the claim. “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 stated.
Jonathan left office in May 2015, while the prayer walk took place in February 2020 during the administration of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Photographs from the 2020 event showed Adeboye holding a placard with the inscription “All Souls Are Precious to God.”
He said the image had recently been recirculated and wrongly linked to Jonathan’s presidency, with the context altered.
Adeboye expressed initial amusement at the report before becoming concerned that it was accepted without verification.
He recalled lessons from his university days on the importance of investigating facts before publication and urged journalists to check the historical context of stories.
The clarification comes amid the recirculation of the old photograph online and in some media reports. RCCG had previously addressed similar claims earlier in 2026.
By Oyinkansola Shittu.
