2023: I’m also a RCCG member, there will be moral crisis if they support Osinbajo – Dele Momodu
The publisher of Ovation International, Dele Momodu, who is aspiring to be president next year, has warned the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) that the creation of a directorate of politics and governance wil cause moral crisis in Nigeria.
RCCG, in a memo signed by its Assistant General Overseer (Admin/Personnel) Pastor J. F. Odesola, confirmed the creation of the directorate for politics and governance ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The RCCG stated that the newly-created directorate was set up to coordinate the affairs and activities of members interested in seeking political positions in 2023.
Reacting, Momodu said combining religion with politics was one way to ignite trouble in Nigeria, especially when the church chose a preferred candidate and party.
Part of the statement read, “Fellow Nigerians, let me state clearly that I consider myself a bonafide member of RCCG even if I don’t attend church services often due to my absence from home arising from my enforced itinerant lifestyle as an international journalist.
“I’ve been a son of RCCG General Overseer Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye and his very selfless wife, Mummy G O, Mrs Foluke Adenike Adeboye for many years.
“Naturally, I feel that I owe it a duty to tell our Church leaders, and our Church in general, the Gospel truth.
“Nothing must be done to inadvertently cause a cataclysmic storm in the House of God and the easiest way to create trouble in Nigeria today is any attempt to mix religion with politics.
“As soon as I read the memo by RCCG establishing a political arm of our Church, I realised this was nothing but an invitation to Armageddon, if true.
“It’s like combining some highly combustible ingredients together in a chemical laboratory. It’s not just that the effect may not be too pleasant, it is that the result and consequences will be catastrophic. God forbid.”
Momodu noted that although the church said the directorate was established tio support its members in the next election, there are general conspiracy theory that RCCG was setting up an ‘extensive network’ for the Presidential ambition of the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
“Personally, that theory did not jell with me. To the best of my knowledge, Professor Osinbajo is not the only member of the church contesting the 2023 Presidential election. And it was not RCCG that nominated him as running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Osinbajo got the job primarily because of his closeness to his former Principal, then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and also because of his admirable credentials, ability and capacity. His religion was necessarily a factor, because a Northern Muslim must pick a Southern Christian as his running mate in the current Nigerian clime.
“That’s the only reason religion came into it, I believe. It had nothing to do with the fact that he’s a senior pastor of the RCCG,” he said.