Directorate of Politics, Governance Not Targeted at Any Politician, Says RCCG

Segun James

The Assistant General Overseer Admin and Personnel of The Redeemed Redeemed Christian Church of God, (RCCG), Pastor Johnson Odesola, has said that internal instrument to Directorate of Politics and Governance of the church is not targeted at a political aspirant as been insinuated, but to coordinate and support members who want to be involved in politics.

This was contained in a statement made available to journalists in response to the rumours that the recent memo on Directorate of Politics and Governance in RCCG is targeted at a political aspirant.

He said: “Regarding the internal instrument to Directorate of Politics and Governance in The Redeemed Redeemed Christian Church of God that someone in sincere ignorance has dropped into the media which has been drawn to reactions in the public to the function of the Directorate.

He said the internal instrument to Directorate of Politics and Governance in RCCG helps to coordinate the engagement of our people who are willing to be involved in politics as well as mobilise support for them.

Odesola noted that nowhere in the statement was 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.

“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.

“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”, he said.

Odesola added: “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”

He stressed that 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.

“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”, he said.