By Aramide Olugbenga, Lagos Bureau
The last has not been heard of the RUGA story as some protesters led by some prominent Nigerian musicians, Eedris Abdulkareem, Baba Fryo, and Felix Duke among other musicians, on Monday, marched to the Redeemed Christian Church of God camp along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, to demand that Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s intervention on the, now suspended, RUGA settlement project initiated by the federal government.
The Federal Government had last week announced the suspension of the project, following reactions from Nigerians.
In a video shared on his unverified Instagram page, Abdulkareem, a rapper said, “We are here to see Baba Adeboye, who is our father. We love him so much and we want him to speak and he must speak. It is very important for him to speak. I’m here with Baba Fryo, I’m here with Felix Duke and we are here to say ‘Baba speak up’. You have talked about COZA, now we want you to talk about RUGA.”
The celebrities want him to prevail on the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbanjo, on this Ruga settlement issue and the killings of innocent people by Fulani herdsmen. They also spoke on the release of Leah Sharibu, by Boko Haram terrorists, drawing the attention of the Redeemed Church General Overseer to her plight.
According to them, the protest was not designed to make Adeboye a bad person. All they wanted was to relay their reservation on the RUGA Project and Sharibu’s plight in the hands of her abductors, through him to government.
When they got to the Redemption Camp, the security guards tried to stop the crowd from coming in, but they found their way in and kept marching on in the Redeem estate till they got to a point where the police used an armored personnel carrier to barricade the mob.
“We continued protesting on that spot until the National Overseer, RCCG, came to speak to us and gave us an assurance that our message would be delivered to Adeboye. But we told him that if we didn’t hear from him, we would come back again.” He said.
The Head of Media and Public Relations, RCCG, Olaitan Olubiyi, assured the protesters’ that their complaints would be delivered to Adeboye, whom he said had embarked on spiritual preparation for the forthcoming convention of the church.
Olubiyi stated, “When the protesters came, we attended to them because Pastor Adeboye was not available. We are preparing for our convention and our General Overseer has already embarked on his own spiritual preparation for the convention. The National Overseer Pastor, Joshua Obayemi, spoke to them and assured them of Pastor Adeboye’s commitment to the progress and peace of Nigeria.
The media and Public Relations officer of the Church debunked the allegation of silence against the Church Head Pastor as he said “it may not be true that he (Adeboye) has been silent; during the last Holy Ghost Service, there was a time devoted to talking about the evils and dangers of blood-shedding and bloodletting; Pastor Adeboye even led the whole congregation in prayer for mercy for Nigeria and that was aside the prayers that are always offered at the various parishes.”
The protest, organized by the Creative Industry Group, was staged to appeal to Adeboye to exert his influence to speak on the security challenges plaguing the country.
The protesters, including Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy; Felix Duke; Friday Igwe, popularly known as Baba Fryo; Eedris Abdulkareem and Mykel Parish, alleged that Adeboye had been silent on the state of the nation.
The Chairman of the group, Duke, while lamenting the rate at which people were being killed and kidnapped in the country, urged the RCCG GO to speak up for the masses.
Duke stated, “A lot of people are dying; our women are being raped; men are being kidnapped and killed; children are being slaughtered and no one is talking about these. Any government that wants to change the orientation of the youth usually uses entertainment; so, we celebrities have decided to use our followership to influence people to speak up for the underprivileged.”
He further emphasized the belief that the RCCG is the biggest church in Nigeria and that Pastor Adeboye has a lot of influence in the country, adding that the General Overseer’s intervention would automatically gain the attention of the President.
”The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, is his ‘son’; he (Adeboye) also has a lot of ‘children’ in the National Assembly, so his voice is very important.” He asserted.
According to him, the people they met at the Redemption Camp all understood that the fight is not about the musicians, but for the betterment of all Nigerians and posterity.
Igwe urged Adeboye to exert his influence to intensify efforts to secure the release of Leah Sharibu, who has been in the captivity of the Boko Haram terrorists for so long.
Leave Adeboye alone, direct your protest to govt., CAN tells musicians
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has urged secular musicians who protested to the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, to direct their future protests to the government.
The association stated this in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by its National Director, Legal and Public Affairs, Mr Samuel Vondip.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some protesters, including Charly Boy, Idris Abdulkareem and Baba Fryo on Monday staged a peaceful protest at the RCCG Redemption Camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The protesters called on Adeboye to speak up against what they termed the injustice in the country.
”While we appreciate the concern of the protesters over the issues they raised and the call for a better nation, we strongly believe that singling 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 Adeboye are totally ignorant of the operations of CAN.
”It needs to be known to all that Adebayo had addressed the press on several occasions, saying that as a ‘man under authority’, he cannot speak on issues that CAN or PFN have spoken about,” Vondip said.
He said that any protest against Adeboye would be viewed by CAN as a systematic insult against church leaders in Nigeria.
”Why should any group of people think that it is their right to protest and demand that Pastor Adeboye must speak on the issues they listed when CAN and PFN had spoken about them?
”On about three occasions, CAN had taken many of the issues raised by the protesters to President Muhammadu Buhari
”CAN had requested the government to do more to get the people in Boko Haram captivity released.
“We specifically mentioned the remaining Chibok girls, Leah Sharibu, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, the Islamic preacher who is still kept in detention against the ruling of the court,” he said.
Vondip said that CAN had also spoken to those in government, especially the Christians among them who were members of the association, to speak for the oppressed in the country.
He added that they had been urged to defend their faith rather than explaining away evils in order to protect their jobs and daily bread.
The CAN national director also added that on some occasions, the association had written the National Assembly for their intervention.
”While we understand the frustration of those who organised the protest, we are against the method they adopted by directing their anger against an innocent man.
”Adeboye will never support oppression and he has been speaking against these evils in the land through CAN and, on several occasions, in his sermons.
”We further urge those who protested to direct their future protests at those in government who should do more to free those who have been in captivity for no sins of theirs.
”They should direct their protest against the people in power to make the nation safer from the attacks of herdsmen, kidnappers, ritual killers, armed robbers, armed bandits and Boko Haram terrorists.
”We have no gun to fight our battles except to speak out as we have been doing and never at the same time give up praying to God who can do all things,” he added.
