Adeboye refuses interview after closed-door meeting with Buhari

On Monday, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari hosted the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

As we earlier reported, both of them met behind closed doors at the President’s office. They were joined at the meeting by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who is also a pastor at the RCCG.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, also attended the meeting that started around 3pm and ended a few minutes after. The cleric did not speak with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.

Also, the Presidency had yet to issue a statement on the meeting as of the time of filing this report. Buhari’s meeting with Adeboye, however, took place at a time religious leaders and bodies were kicking against a section of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, which the President signed into law on August 7, 2020.

One of the contentious aspects of the law is Section 839, which provides for religious bodies, non-governmental organisations and charity organisations to be regulated by the Registrar of the Corporate Affairs Commission and a supervising minister.

The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigerian has opposed the law. The Head of Media and Public Relations, RCCG, Pastor Olaitan Olubiyi, had in a recent interview said Adeboye’s position on the law was not different from that of CAN and the PFN.

Olubiyi had said, “The stand of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the leadership of the church on issues like this is not always different from whatever the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria say.

“We always align ourselves with whatever the stand of the leadership of CAN and the PFN on issues like this is.b