The Redeemed Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has said the directorate it created for politics and governance is not meant for the advantage of any individual.
In a memo, which went viral last week, the Assistant General Overseer (Admin and Personnel) of the church, Pastor J. F. Odesola, announced the establishment of the directorate to all Pastors in charge of regions and provinces of the church with Pastor Timothy Olaniyan appointed as the head.
By the same token, all the Pastors in charge of regions and provinces of the church were by the memo directed to immediately appoint a provincial officer at all levels of the church (zone, area and parish).
“The essence of this directorate is to help coordinate the engagement of our people who are willing to be involved in politics as well as mobilise support for them when required,” the memo read in part.
Speculations were rife that the memo was created for the interest of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who is believed to be nursing 2023 ambition and whose political interests the church promoted in the 2015 and 2019 Presidential elections.
Vice President Osinbajo is also a Pastor of the church.
But in a statement, the church which boasts of millions of members across Nigeria, debunked the news that RCCG is creating a soft ground for Osinbajo.
“The attention of the Assistant General Overseer (Admin & Personnel) Regarding the internal instrument to Directorate of Politics and Governance in The Redeemed Redeemed Christian Church of God that someone in sincere ignorance has drop into the media which has been drawn to reactions in the public to the function of the Directorate.
“It is important to highlight that the operative words are: ‘…help coordinate the engagement of our people who are willing to be involved in politics as well as mobilise support for them’.
“We wish to state that: 1. Nowhere in the statement is it mentioned nor insinuated that a particular political aspirant is being referred to. As would be expected the Church has members that belong to several political parties, but would not itself get into partisan issues.
“2. As a big and dynamic church, RCCG considers herself one of the nation’s stakeholders and the work of the directorate is in direct response to the advisory of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to support our members on effective and efficient voter education and the discharge of their related civic rights and obligations.
“3. As a big and dynamic church, RCCG considers it necessary to respond to the growing interest of its members in politics and governance by ensuring that their standing as law abiding citizens in all spheres of life is neither compromised nor fall below the standard expected of followers of Christ.
“4. RCCG by this is not doing anything new or different from some other denominations such as the Catholic Church or other religious bodies who bring its members up to date with policies, laws and regulations regarding their polity and its governance.
“5.Therefore, the RCCG does not promote the interest of one particular political party as its members are to be found in all the political parties holding high ranking and responsible offices and have in the past gone through necessary tutelage on how to conduct themselves in public office.
“6. RCCG will continue to offer spiritual and moral support to its members through prayers, encouragement, exhortation, counselling and moral instructions as would be expected from an organisation which on record is fully conscious of its Christian Social Responsibility,” the statement issued by Odesola read.
