What Pastor Adeboye told me when I met him — Sowore

Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has recounted his meeting with the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, saying the cleric told him he prayed for him regularly and believed he would triumph.

Sowore said Adeboye also told him that he knew his ways were pure during their meeting at the church’s national headquarters in Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

The activist disclosed this in an interview on the Naija Unfiltered Podcast, about a week after attending the RCCG’s National Thanksgiving Service.

In a post on X after the service, Sowore had said Adeboye offered to pray for him during a private meeting.

Recounting the encounter on the podcast, Sowore said Adeboye recognised him and recalled praying for him.

“He said to me, ‘You know, I know you very well, and I pray for you all the time, and I know your ways are pure, and that you will triumph,’” Sowore said.

He explained that he was initially directed to wait near Adeboye’s car after the service but was later informed that the cleric wanted to meet him in the church’s vestry.

According to Sowore, the conversation also touched on their first meeting in 1996, when he approached Adeboye for support in a campaign against cultism in Nigerian universities.

The presidential candidate said he had visited the cleric after completing the National Youth Service Corps programme to seek his support in tackling the growing problem of cultism on campuses.

He recalled that Adeboye endorsed the campaign and directed that N10,000 be given to him to support the effort.

“We used it to go and campaign against cultism,” he said.

Sowore said Adeboye later asked for permission to pray for him during their recent meeting. He agreed but told the cleric he would not close his eyes while the prayer was being offered.

“So he did pray for me, and we stood up, and we laughed,” he said.

Asked whether he gave his life to Christ, Sowore said the discussion did not take that direction, stressing that he was not involved in organised religion.

“We didn’t have that kind of conversation because giving life to Christ is for people who are into organised religion. I am not into organised religion,” he said.

He added that he did not discuss his presidential ambition with Adeboye, describing the encounter as a personal conversation prompted partly by the cleric’s surprise that they had met three decades earlier.