Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has explained the circumstances surrounding a photograph of him carrying a placard, dismissing claims that it was taken during a protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Adeboye said the photograph was taken in February 2020, nearly five years after Jonathan left office, during a prayer walk organised to draw attention to killings and insecurity in Nigeria.
He addressed the controversy during the RCCG’s November Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, November 1, 2026, where he questioned how the photograph had been presented without proper investigation into its origin.
“Jonathan ceased to be president in 2015. I carried the placard five years into the second term of Buhari,” he said.
The photograph showed Adeboye holding a placard bearing the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God”.
The prayer walk was organised in Lagos as part of a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), which called on churches to seek divine intervention over the country’s security challenges.
Reports at the time indicated that the procession began at the RCCG national headquarters in Ebute Meta, proceeded towards Atan Cemetery in Yaba and later returned to the church.
Adeboye explained that he participated in the exercise in response to a directive from the CAN chairman asking churches to organise prayer walks around their premises.
“The chairman said all churches should do a prayer walk near their churches. That’s what I did,” he said.
He acknowledged carrying the placard but rejected the political interpretation subsequently attached to the photograph.
“True, I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It was important. It was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray,” he said.
According to Adeboye, he was initially amused when he learnt that the photograph was being used to suggest that he had protested against Jonathan. However, he became concerned that the allegation had gained attention without anyone checking the facts.
He criticised the publication of information without establishing its historical context, arguing that the circumstances surrounding a photograph must be investigated before conclusions are drawn.
Reflecting on his exposure to journalism studies in the 1960s, Adeboye stressed the importance of investigative reporting and verifying information before publication.
“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 added that journalists should not assume that things are always as they appear
“Things don’t appear as they may seem. Investigate, if you have a story, before you take it to the press,” Adeboye said.
Addressing members of the creative industry, the RCCG leader expressed disappointment that the report had circulated without anyone making an effort to establish the facts.
“I’m talking to those of you in the creative industry. Nobody checked,” he lamented
