Adeboye's apology
Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God

Enoch Adeboye, the Daddy G.O* of the Redeemed Christian Church of God is an interesting guy. He is the number one pastor in Nigeria by dint of being the head of the largest denomination in the country. He is hero-worshipped as a spiritual father by many. I suppose in a sense, that makes him the Pentecostal pope. Any pastor who craves validation has to metaphorically genuflect to him and kiss his ring. You get that a lot in Nigeria anyway. It’s a sacrilege if you don’t pay obeisance to your seniors whether it’s in the music or movie industry. For instance, a breakout music star is expected to idolise Wizkid and Davido as his inspiration even though his style may bear no sonic semblance with them. Adeboye is a Wizkid and Davido to many pastors in Nigeria, young and old.

Though widely loved, he is just as widely hated. His risible claims of miracles have earned him a lot of flak on social media. He once claimed he drank tea with God. One time, in a viral clip, he narrated how some billionaires in his church experienced a reversal of fortune for demanding accountability on how their donations were spent. Another time, he claimed he once drove a car from Ore to Lagos (about 211 km) without fuel. Years ago, he travelled to Colorado in the thick of winter, but it was sunny during his stay there. It only began to snow immediately he left. With claims like this, you can see why he has very little love on social media.

Around 2017, then radio host Daddy Freeze caused a bedlam with his anti-tithe teachings. By challenging the tithe orthodoxy, he was attacked by the Nigerian clergy. However, the attacks were more emotional than substance based. He gave biblical proofs to show that tithing is outdated and even if not, only the descendants of the tribe of Levi were entitled to it. And since Nigerian pastors have no ancestry to Israel, they have no right to collect tithe. He was called every name in the book. In his response, Adeboye called him a mad man. I was disappointed. If Daddy Freeze was being heretical as they all claimed, that was a chance to give an apologetic defence for why tithing is consistent with the New Testament. Sadly, they had nothing other than ad hominem attacks.

Seven years have passed. Apart from the occasional moments he makes the news for saying something controversial, Daddy Freeze is no longer a threat to the Nigerian clergy. He has gone into oblivion. He has made his point. But interestingly, he seems to have been vindicated. Yesterday, I woke up to a video of Adeboye apologising for years of teaching that non-tithers won’t make heaven. That elicited a roar of excitement from the congregation only for him to ruin it with an analogy in physics. Just like it was once taught in Physics that light travels in straight lines only for scientists to later discover it travels in waves, he argues it is possible for one to be wrong and right at the same time. The Bible does not limit believers to tithe 10 per cent of their income. That’s for beginners. Some should ideally be tithing 20 per cent, 30 per cent, 40 per cent, etc. Giving should be done ‘virulently’, he adds. That’s essentially Adeboye’s apology.

I’ve yet to understand why many people were excited for Adeboye’s apology. If anything, It’s worse than all his years of teaching that people should tithe 10 per cent of their income. It’s a reverse way of collecting more money from people. What many see as strength in humility for someone of his stature to publicly apologise, I see as a sleek decoy to further entrap people into the slavish dogma of prosperity gospel championed by him and his ilk. He presented no actual arguments other than a lose analogy. This is yet another proof that the Nigerian church is not theologically sound. Of course, there are sprawling buildings and mammoth crowds to boast of. But the Nigerian church is grossly lacking where it matters the most: apologetics and dialectics. That is why it is easy for an Adeboye to make a 180° turn without any argumentation. People can be wrong. And when they are wrong, the noble thing to do is apologise. But in matters of faith, you can’t simply wake up one morning and change a position like a snake undergoing ecdysis. You’ve got to give a detailed and sound explanation.

Moreso, if he truly admits he was wrong for his past teachings on tithe, then he should apologise to Daddy Freeze for being the first to go mainstream with the anti-tithe message. He has just come to terms with what the mad man said seven years ago. But the anti-tithe message has gone beyond Daddy Freeze. Now, there is another called Abel Damina who has risen to prominence of late for his anti-tithe and anti-prosperity gospel messaging. The interesting thing is Abel Damina used to be part of the prosperity gospel bandwagon. Perhaps, Adeboye’s apology is a response to Abel Damina’s theological activism.

The reactions to Adeboye’s apology underscores how mortal men can get away with anything under the imprimatur of their divine calling. I hate that churches are organised around the founder or general overseer. I hate that you cannot respectfully disagree with what the head pastor says. If you did, you get tagged as a heretic. But if the head pastor suddenly changes his position years later, he can at best give a terse non-apology and everybody is supposed to move on. So, when these pastors make bold claims of how they are led by God, who are we to hold accountable when they suddenly change? The pastors? God? Wasn’t it God who was leading them those times? Even if they made honest mistakes, shouldn’t God have corrected them those times he drank tea with them? Does it mean everything they say should be taken with a pinch of salt? To the people who were excited to see their respectable Daddy G.O apologise, had they always disagreed with him on tithe all along? Or like their Daddy G.O, have they too suddenly just realised the truth about tithing? If they knew the truth all along, why did they say nothing until now?

Adeboye’s apology has all the marks of an infallible African parent. It’s not exactly an attempt to course correct. It’s a sleek attempt to dogmatise his followers to give more money. And that’s truly sad given that Nigerians are going through hell as they battle inflation and devaluation. The church shouldn’t be concerned with how to collect money from its members. It should be concerned with how to empower them. I wish Daddy Freeze and Abel Damina could say they’ve been vindicated. I wish they could say Veni, vidi, vici like Julius Ceaser because the biggest pastor in the country has corrected his stance on tithing. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. He simply doubled down on a destructive dogma with his faux apology.

Daddy G.O* is an affectionate honorific given to General Overseers of popular pentecostal churches in Nigeria

By Olayemi Olaniyi

Olayemi is the publisher of The Disaffected Magazine. He also hosts the Disaffected Nigerian Podcast. He enjoys everything from Evolutionary Psychology to the syncopations of Apala music to Fela's discography. He fancies himself as an Amala enthusiast. His dream is to be a travel writer someday. He can be reached on X @LukeOlaniyi.  

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2 thoughts on “Adeboye’s Non-apology”
  1. Seriously, it’s so disheartening. About a year ago, I watched a clip of Benny Hinn, a popular American pastor, openly apologizing( I won’t really call it an apology, because he was not remorseful). He admitted that many of the things he once claimed were messages from God were never actually from God.

    The question now is, what about the people who believed in those claims? The ones who followed his words with unwavering faith, donated money, changed their lives, and made decisions based on what they thought was divine guidance? How do they reconcile the fact that the person they trusted for spiritual direction was wrong? It raises a larger issue about the responsibility of spiritual leaders and the consequences of claiming divine authority without truly hearing from God.

    Religion without a mind is a curse!

  2. This is another validation of the fact that, for the most part, interpretation of the bible is based on reality outside of spirituality.

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