Pastors, FRC and Age Retirement -By Sunday O. Oladep

Pst. E.A. Adeboye erupted the burgeoning brouhaha on the cyber-space. His controversial announcement of another General Overseer for the RCCG is the reason for all this media hullabaloo.

I don’t want to have a lengthy composition. Most people don’t read it. The FRC hasn’t done anything bad for the promulgation of a law to safeguard people from the selfish exploitation of NGO proprietors and religious bosses.

This very law wasn’t even made under Buhari. So, there’s arguably no political agenda beneath. Pst. E.A. Adeboye is someone I personally venerate but why is he and the RCCG media confusing the public with to-and-fro news?

Last week, Saturday, Pst. Adeboye publicly announced at the Annual Ministers Conference that the Church now officially has a new General Overseer. Information emerged later that he had only stepped down as G.O. for Nigeria but remains the G.O. of RCCG worldwide.

Critics later pointed out that the Constitution of the RCCG doesn’t recognized the latter and we were later told that Pst. E.A. Adeboye is the Global Missioner and Spiritual Leader of the RCCG. Yet, this is a title that is also alien to the Constitution of the Church. Is this confusion or deliberate distortion?

I just read the outburst of Pst. Oyedepo, even though I’m a member of Living Faith Church, saying the FG shouldn’t meddle in religious affairs. That is wrong in entirety! We’d lampoon the government on religious issues, so we can’t now say the government isn’t involved. Not at all!

Why ain’t religious leaders willing to relinquish power? Is this not the same case of greed and grandeur that we’d chastise our political leaders for? Stepping aside doesn’t mean you ain’t relevant in the system again. Rather, it means you’re breeding other leaders whilst giving them the chance to showcase their leadership prowess.

Orthodox Churches are better organized in this area. CAC, for example, under the then leadership of E.H.L. Olusheye honorably left the scene for A.O. Akinosun. Catholics, TAC and others have reasonable arrangement for succession. Why are all this so-called pentecostal Churches being too political about leadership? The politics in Nigerian Churches is damn more complicated than imaginable!

Sunday O. Oladepo is a Journalist and a PR Consultant. Twitter: @sundayooladepo