Obayemi is National Overseer, Adeboye Remains General Overseer

There has not been shortage of reactions to the reported resignation of Pastor Enoch Adeboye as the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and the appointment of Pastor Joshua Obayemi as his successor.

Many senior pastors of the church, who were present at the Saturday morning’s meeting, where the decision was announced by Adeboye, have expressed shock at the development.

They also insisted that Adeboye remained the bonafide General Overseer of the church, as Obayemi was only appointed the National Overseer of the church in Nigeria.

The pastors, who spoke exclusively to Newsmakers, also expressed outrage at the decision of the Federal Government to meddle in the affairs of religious bodies by setting tenure for their leaders.

They described the move as an attempt to weaken the leadership of the church to enable the current administration succeed with its Islamisation agenda.

One of the pastors, who requested to be anonymous, stated: “The GO (Adeboye) had a meeting with senior pastors earlier today and gave the same reasons that have been published for his decision. The consensus was that government is putting its mouth in the affairs of church

“We also know Islamisation of Nigeria is top on this government’s agenda. Weakening the leadership of the church is a cheap route to getting there. We Christians are the ones to stand strong”

Also clarifying the change in the church’s leadership structure, he noted: “Please don’t get Daddy GO (Adeboye) wrong. Pastor Obayemi was announced as National Overseer for Nigeria. There are other National Overseers in other countries where we have RCCG churches. Therefore, daddy GO remains the General Overseer worldwide. He continues to lead RCCG in the other 191 nations as well as in Nigeria. He has not retired”