President Muhammadu Buhari received the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari and Adeboye met behind closed doors at the President’s office.
The meeting was attended by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who is also a pastor of the RCCG, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.
The meeting started around 3 p.m and ended a few minutes later.
However, the cleric declined to speak with journalists after the meeting.
Also, the presidency is yet to issue a statement on the meeting as at the time of writing this report.
Let us be reminded that the cleric meeting with Buhari took place at a time religious leaders and bodies were kicking against a section of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, which the President signed into law on August 7, 2020.
One of the conflicting sides of the law is Section 839, which states that religious bodies, non-governmental organizations, and charity organizations would be regulated by the Registrar of the Corporate Affairs Commission and a supervising minister.
The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has opposed the law.
Recently, RCCG Media and Public Relations head, Pastor Olaitan Olubiyi, in an interview said, Adeboye’s position on the law was the same as that of CAN and PFN.
He said, “The stand of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the leadership of the church on issues like this is not always different from whatever the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria say.
“We always align ourselves with whatever the stand of the leadership of CAN and the PFN on issues like this is.”
