Peter Obi, the National Democratic Congress presidential candidate, and former Education Minister Obiageli Ezekwesili have urged Nigerians to redirect their frustration away from RCCG General Superintendent Pastor Enoch Adeboye. They argued that holding the 84-year-old cleric accountable for rising insecurity and economic hardship misplaces responsibility that belongs to government institutions and elected leaders.
Obi made the appeal in a statement posted on his X account. He drew parallels between current criticism of Adeboye and the ethnic and religious divisions that surfaced during Nigeria’s 2023 election cycle, especially around the Lagos governorship race. According to him, public discourse after the presidential poll shifted away from key issues like competence, governance, national development, and long-term planning toward tribal narratives and ethnic mistrust. Many citizens, he said, were pulled into those divisions without realizing the underlying intent.
The former Anambra State governor cautioned that those same divisive patterns are resurfacing in more refined forms. He described how orchestrated narratives are being seeded and amplified through social channels, often spread by people who believe they are supporting a just cause. Obi stressed that well-meaning Nigerians must guard against becoming tools for agendas that claim to promote unity while quietly encouraging division.
On Adeboye’s record, Obi stated, “Pastor Enoch Adeboye remains one of the foremost fathers of faith in our nation. For decades, he has consistently preached the virtues of peace, prayer, love, reconciliation, and national unity. Even when faced with provocation, his response has always reflected humility, restraint, wisdom, and grace. It is unfair to transfer to an 84-year-old man, responsibilities that rightly belong to the younger generation. The task of building a better Nigeria rests primarily on the shoulders of the younger generation. We must be careful not to become instruments in the hands of those who secretly nurture division while publicly preaching unity”.
