RCCG G.O Pastor Enoch Adeboye steps down,announces new leader of the Church

It was a mixture of surprise and anxiety on Saturday for ministers in the Redeemed Christian Church of God when the respected cleric and General Overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, announced a new leader for the church arm in Nigeria.

Adeboye made the declaration at the church’s Annual Ministers Thanksgiving held at the Redemption Camp in Ogun State.



SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that Adeboye started his speech at the service by telling the stunned ministers that he initiated a pension scheme for the church’s retired full-time pastors that would enable them earn 100 per cent of their salaries as pension.

He reportedly said that government had been meddling with the affairs of churches in Nigeria and he had to discontinue with the scheme when the government introduced a contributory pension scheme which the church later joined.

Ministers present at the gathering told PUNCH  that Adeboye said the government also interfered in the administration of the church by stipulating mandatory office tenure for general overseers of all registered churches in the country through a regulation.

He noted that this regulation also extended to clergymen like Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church Worldwide International aka Winners Chapel, Pastor W.F. Kumuyi of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry and Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, among others.

Kumuyi, Oyedepo, Olukoya, others to follow

Some of the general overseers to be affected by the regulation include Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya  of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, who has spent 22 years as the general overseer; Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (35 years); Pastor Kumuyi  (43 years); Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of Word of Life Bible Church (29 years); Rev. Chris Okotie  of the Household of God ( 29 years);  Kingsway International Christian Centre’s Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo (24 years);  Winners Chapel’s  Bishop David Oyedepo (35 years).

Others are Pastor Chris Oyakhilome  of Believers’ LoveWord International (26 years); Pastor Samuel Abiara of Christ Apostolic Church (39 years); Pastor Sam Adeyemi  of Daystar Christian Centre (21 years);  Pastor Tunde Bakare of Latter Rain Assembly (27 years);  House on the Rock’s Pastor Paul Adefarasin (22 years), among others.

When contacted by PUNCH, the Public Relations Officer of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Mr. Segun Babatope, declined to speak on whether Pastor Kumuyi would also step down like Pastor Adeboye did.

He referred PUNCH to the church secretary, who also declined to speak on the matter.

Babatope said, “I cannot speak on behalf of the church. We are not fully aware of what Pastor Adeboye said and we cannot comment on rumours.”

Also, calls made to the mobile of Rev. Chris Okotie were not answered. He did not also reply the text message sent to his mobile as of press time.

Similarly, when contacted on Saturday, one of Pastor Olukoya’s media aides, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, did not respond to calls made to his mobile phone, neither did he respond to the text message our correspondent sent to him.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Dele Adesina, who is an ally of Bishop David Oyedepo, told SUNDAY PUNCH that he needed to read the FRC’s code to give “an informed opinion” on the issue.

source:punch