Adeboye Clarifies 2020 Placard Photo, Says It Was Not Protest Against Jonathan

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has clarified that a photograph showing him carrying a placard was taken during a prayer walk against insecurity in 2020 and not a protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Adeboye made the clarification on Sunday, November 1, during the church’s November Thanksgiving service, accusing journalists of misrepresenting the circumstances surrounding the photograph.

The cleric acknowledged carrying the placard but insisted that the exercise was a prayer walk organised to seek divine intervention over killings and insecurity in Nigeria.

He said the incident occurred in 2020, five years after Jonathan left office in 2015, when former President Muhammadu Buhari was in his second term.

“True, I carried a placard. I can’t deny that. It was important. It was a prayer walk. We wanted to pray,” Adeboye said.

He explained that the exercise followed a directive from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for churches to organise prayer walks around their respective locations.

Adeboye said he participated in the exercise around the RCCG headquarters in Ebute-Metta, Lagos, and questioned why the photograph had been presented as evidence of a protest against Jonathan.

He also criticised journalists for publishing information without investigating the circumstances surrounding the photograph.

Recalling his exposure to journalism studies during his time at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in the 1960s, the cleric said journalists were taught to investigate information before taking stories to the press.

He said the photograph had been used to support claims that he protested against Jonathan’s administration, describing the interpretation as a distortion of the actual event.

The prayer walk took place on February 2, 2020, following a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by CAN between January 31 and February 2 to seek an end to killings, terrorism and insecurity across the country.

Adeboye led RCCG members from the church’s national headquarters in Ebute-Metta through parts of Lagos, including the route towards Atan Cemetery in Yaba.

During the procession, he carried a placard bearing the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”

The exercise was part of a nationwide Christian prayer walk, with participating churches and worshippers in different states carrying messages against killings, terrorism and insecurity.

During the programme, Adeboye prayed for peace and security in Nigeria, stressing that every life was precious regardless of religious affiliation.

The photograph resurfaced on social media in subsequent years, generating debate over the cleric’s position on insecurity and his public comments about successive administrations.

In June 2026, the RCCG also addressed the controversy, explaining that the photograph was taken during the February 2020 prayer walk organised by CAN and was unrelated to Jonathan’s presidency.

The church urged members of the public to verify information about the cleric through its official communication channels.

Adeboye’s latest clarification comes amid renewed public discussions about his comments on national security and the expectations surrounding religious leaders’ responses to Nigeria’s political and security challenges.