After serving for 36 years, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye has announced his retirement as the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Nigeria.
He made the announcement at the RCCG’s Annual Ministers Thanksgiving, this morning.
Rated by Newsweek magazine in 2008 as one of the 50 most powerful people in the world, Adeboye joined the RCCG in 1973 and became the General Overseer in 1981.
The Church is now to be led by Pastor Joseph O. Obayemi, as the National Overseer, Pastor Funsho Odesola, as the new Church Secretary and Pastor Adeyokunu, as the new Church Treasurer.
This is sequel to the new legal requirements set up by the Financial Regulations Council, guiding all registered churches, mosques, CSOs. They have a maximum period of twenty years to lead their organizations. In retirement, they are not permitted to hand over to their families.
Adeboye, however, remains the General Overseer of RCCG worldwide.
In 1981, Adeboye was appointed General Overseer of the church, taking over from Papa Akindayomi, who had died the previous year. For three years he filled the role part-time, still lecturing at the University of Ilorin. He later gave up his university position to preach full-time.
The church, which was not well known prior to Adeboye becoming the General Overseer, has several branches globally in about 190 countries, including more than 14,000 in Nigeria.
Adeboye once said that his aim was to put a church within five minutes of every person on Earth.
He is the national president of RCF (an interdenominational fellowship in all the campuses in Nigeria) which is under the umbrella of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministry (CRM) where he is a founder and president.
At the 2016 annual convention of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Adeboye caused a stir on social networks when he made a bold statement encouraging young men to avoid marrying “lazy women” and those “who cannot cook”. He also advised young ladies to avoid any serious relationship with jobless men. That same month, he spoke about his gospel ministers growing a beard as a trend.
He said, “I don’t want to see any of my pastors looking like fellows from the training camps of Al-Qaeda.”
Adeboye had his B.Sc. in Mathematics at University of Nigeria Nsukka and a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Lagos. He worked as a lecturer in mathematics at the universities of Lagos and Ilorin. After joining the RCCG in 1973, he began working to translate the sermons of its then Pastor and founder, Rev. Akindayomi, from Yoruba into English.
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Well, now that government have started getting too personal with religious organisations, the question is this: does this apply to all religious organisations ? Which means, sultan who is regarded as Muslim head in Nigeria should be expected to step down at 70.