Adeboye Gets Backing From PFN, CAN On Silence On National Issues

By Ayodele Oluwafemi  

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN has slammed protesters who recently mounted a vigil at the gate of the Redemption camp in protest against alleged silence of Pastor Enoch Adeboye on national issues.

The PFN assertion followed the recent protest by some activists led by hip-hop artiste Eedris Abdulkariam over Adeboye’s perceived silence on issues including the continued incarceration of Leah Shariubu by the Islamic Boko Haram terrorist group among others.

PFN president, Rev. Felix Omobude reacting to the calls at a press conference in Benin, Edo State on Wednesday said the critics were ignorant of the working of PFN and Pastor Adeboye.

“I think the suggestion for Pastor Enoch Adeboye to be suspended by the PFN is ill-advised.

“While PFN respects the rights of the people to protest, but we think that protests should be done justly and those who embarked on protests should conduct their investigation properly before embarking on it.

“While acknowledging the right to protest, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) appreciates the concern by the group but it must note that its action will be better achieved, if directed at the appropriate quarters and not persons and organizations that have already highly invested in the process of bringing resolution to the issues raised,” he noted.

Also reacting to the calls, the apex Christian body in Nigeria, Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) noted that Pastor Adeboye is not expected to address issues already addressed by CAN and PFN, as he is a member of both Christian bodies.

CAN noted that those staging protest against Adeboye are ignorant about the activities of CAN in the country, stressing that the clergy is a ‘man under authority’.

This was contained statement issued in Jos, the Plateau State, Wednesday, by its National Director, Legal and Public Affairs Evangelist Barr Kwamkur Samuel.

Part of the statement reads: “The attention of the Christian Association of Nigeria has been drawn to the news of a protest led by some secular musicians against one of our highly respected leaders of the Church, not only in Nigeria, but Worldwide, namely, the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye, over his purported silence on some unpleasant national issues and the call for his suspension from the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, (PFN).

“While we appreciate the concern of the protesters over the issues they raised and the call for a better nation, we strongly believe, as the umbrella body for Christians and churches in Nigeria, to which the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Pastor E. A. Adeboye belong, that to single out one of our leaders and members, to say the least, is unfair. The entire exercise, in our view, was ill-motivated.

“The people who staged this insulting protest against a highly revered servant of God in the person of Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye are totally ignorant of the operations of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). It needs to be known to all that for more than once, Pastor E. A. Adebayo has addressed the press and said that as a ‘man under authority’, he cannot speak over issues that CAN or PFN have spoken about, unless by the express permission of these two bodies.

“Any protest against Pastor Adeboye will be seen by us as a systematic insult against the leaders of the church in Nigeria. Why should any group of people think that it is their right to protest and demand that Pastor Adeboye should speak over the issues they listed when CAN and PFN have spoken on them?”

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