Peter Obi Fiercely Defends Pastor Adeboye Amid Social Media Attacks; Warns Youths Against Weaponizing Tribal and Religious Hate

The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has intervened in a simmering national controversy, launching a strong defense of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, while issuing a stern warning to Nigerian youths against falling victim to engineered ethnic and religious divisions.

The sudden escalation follows days of aggressive, high-velocity digital backlash targeting the revered 84-year-old cleric. Swelling public frustration over regional insecurity and tough economic realities boiled over into online portals, with several activist groups demanding that Pastor Adeboye speak out or directly spearhead mass street protests against the Federal Government. The hostility intensified after a viral photograph resurfaced across social media, showing the cleric holding a protest placard. Critics claimed the image proved the pastor had actively demonstrated against former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration but had chosen to maintain a quiet manual under subsequent leaderships—a claim the RCCG high command swiftly unzipped and debunked as completely false, proving the photo was from a peaceful walk organized against insecurity under the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.

Breaking his silence on Thursday, June 4, 2026, Peter Obi deployed a highly analytical public brief to execute a structural rescue of the narrative. The former Anambra State governor strongly rebuked those attempting to drag the elder statesman into partisan warfare, describing Pastor Adeboye as a highly respected global icon who has spent decades consistently preaching the foundational virtues of peace, reconciliation, moral values, and national cohesion.

“Let me state clearly that Pastor Enoch Adeboye remains one of the foremost fathers of faith in our nation,” Obi stated with absolute candor. “For decades, he has consistently preached the virtues of peace, prayer, love, reconciliation, and national unity. Even when faced with provocation, his response has always reflected humility, restraint, wisdom, and grace. At 84 years of age, it would be unfair for young and able-bodied Nigerians to transfer to him responsibilities that properly belong to them.”

The veteran politician unzipped a deeper warning regarding the underlying manipulation manuals frequently deployed by the country’s ruling elite to weaken collective civic engagement. Drawing a direct parallel to the structural fractures observed during the 2023 general elections, particularly within the sensitive political climate of Lagos State, Obi lamented how essential conversations focused on competence, economic infrastructure, and institutional performance are routinely hijacked by identity-driven propaganda. He noted that whenever desperate political actors realize they cannot survive a data-driven debate on their actual performance or vision, they rapidly resort to exploiting ethnic and tribal fault lines as a defensive shield.

“Throughout history, whenever politicians find it difficult to compete on ideas, performance, character, or vision, some resort to exploiting the fault lines of ethnicity, religion, and identity,” Obi cautioned. “Their calculation is simple: a divided people are easier to manipulate than a united people. Today, I see similar efforts emerging again, sometimes in more subtle and sophisticated ways. Narratives are planted, amplified, and circulated, often by individuals who genuinely believe they are defending a worthy cause, without recognizing the broader agenda behind such campaigns.”

Concluding his message to millions of young followers across the country’s multi-ethnic landscape, the NDC leader urged the younger generation to wake up and permanently drop the habit of outsourcing their civic responsibilities to elderly citizens.

Emphasizing that the architectural manual for a prosperous, functional Nigeria must be written by active youth involvement rather than religious proxies, Obi advised citizens to aggressively verify data, critically question pre-packaged social media narratives, and completely resist being recruited into weaponized hatred. He maintained that the country can only transit out of its current security and economic bottlenecks when its largest demographic chooses unified accountability over toxic, identity-based distractions.