‘I Carried Placard But It Was a Prayer Walk’ — Adeboye Denies Anti-Jonathan Protest Claim (Video)

• Adeboye has rejected claims that he carried a placard against Goodluck Jonathan, saying the photograph came from a 2020 prayer walk against insecurity during Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has rejected claims that he carried a placard in protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan, saying the incident occurred five years after Jonathan left office.

Speaking during the church’s November Thanksgiving service on Sunday, Adeboye said the photograph being circulated showed him participating in a prayer walk against killings and insecurity in 2020, during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The cleric accused those spreading the claim of misrepresenting the event and criticised the failure to verify its date and purpose.

Adeboye told the congregation that a report had portrayed him as a wicked man by linking his appearance with a placard to opposition against Jonathan.

He acknowledged carrying the placard but insisted that the circumstances had been distorted.

“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, the exercise followed a directive for churches to hold prayer walks around their premises. He said his participation was intended to support prayers over the country’s security challenges.

“But I carried the placard in 2020. Jonathan ceased to be president in 2015,” he said.

Jonathan handed over to Buhari in May 2015. The February 2020 walk therefore took place during Buhari’s second term, rather than Jonathan’s presidency.

Adeboye also questioned why the claim had been accepted without sufficient scrutiny. Recalling his exposure to journalism studies in the 1960s, he emphasised the importance of investigating information before publication.

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

Addressing members of the creative industry, the cleric expressed disappointment that the account had circulated without its central claim being checked.

The prayer walk took place on February 2, 2020, when Adeboye led RCCG members through parts of Lagos amid concerns over killings and insecurity across Nigeria.

It followed a three-day fasting and prayer programme declared by the Christian Association of Nigeria to seek divine intervention over terrorism and other security challenges.

The procession began at the RCCG’s national headquarters in Ebute Meta, moved towards Atan Cemetery in Yaba and returned to the church.

Photographs from the exercise showed Adeboye holding a placard with the inscription, “All Souls Are Precious to God.”

His clarification centres on the distinction between that documented prayer walk and subsequent claims presenting the photograph as evidence of a protest against Jonathan’s administration.

Watch video below:

𝐈 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 — 𝐀𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐞

Credit: Facebook | Pastor E A Adeboye
—
Follow us for more breaking news and videos pic.twitter.com/WRZX5ANuM4— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) November 1, 2026