14th October, 2023
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has tackled the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye over his support for Israel in the ongoing war between the Zionist nation and Palestine.
Adeboye, had in a now deleted post, said he would be praying for Israel to be victorious.
Instead of praying for Israel specifically, MURIC invited Pastor Adeboye to pray for failure for the oppressor between Israel and Palestine.
MURIC’s message to Pastor Adeboye was contained in a statement issued on Saturday, 14th October, 2023 by its Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The statement reads :
“We have been reliably informed that the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye has declared support for Israel in the ongoing war between the Zionist nation and Palestine. He also said he was praying for Israel to be victorious (https://blueprint.ng/reactions-as-pastor-adeboye-backs-israel-in-prayer/).
“We are bewildered that a religious leader of Pastor Adeboye’s standing can ignore the sufferings of a people who have been under occupation, siege, arbitrary arrests, long imprisonments accompanied with severe torture, family separations, demolition of homes without warning, extra-judicial killings on a daily basis and the most horrendous dehumanization and violation of fundamental human rights.
“As we speak, 1,800 Palestinians have been killed, more than 6,000 have been wounded and there are no drugs to treat them. Gaza medical facilities have been stretched to their limit. Half of Gaza is already in ruins (https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-news-hamas-war-10-13-23/index.html).
“1,300 Israelis have died and a few hundreds wounded but the injured ones in Israel are receiving medical attention whereas the Palestinians have had no food, no water, no fuel and no electricity for six days. Children and pregnant women are among the Palestinian victims deprived of essential facilities.
“In the midst of this colossal human catastrophe, we are miffed that Pastor Adeboye is praying for a country with a powerful military that locked up all exits of a weaker country that has no standing army and no single fighting aircraft, bombards it for six days and it is now preparing for a ground assault, to be victorious in its bloodthirsty drive for a pogrom.
“Tramadolised religiousity in arrogant ignorance has always been a major problem of Nigerians. Adeboye is praying for the extermination of poor Palestinians without knowing that thousands of Christians are most likely to be victims of the massacre inside the same Gaza.
“Palestine has a population of 12 million people and Christians constitute 7% of that figure, about 840,000. How is Adeboye certain that the merciless bombing and leveling of whole neighbourhoods has not killed many Christians already in Gaza? How is he sure that the coming gruesome ground assault will not affect any of the Christians?
“Compared to the number of Christians in Palestine, Christian population in Israel is a meager 185,000 which is just 1.9% of Israel’s 9.3 million people. This means that contrary to the belief of many Nigerians, the Israelis are not Christians. Also, the population of Muslims in Israel is 1.7 million, representing 18% of the total population. This also means there are more Muslims in Israel than Christians.
“Nigerians must therefore realise that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is not rooted in religion but in land-grabbing. That is why Nigerians should not exchange hostilities over the conflict in the Middle East. We should not be divided along religious lines. Good Muslims and good Christians should continue to interact, love and share.
“The Palestinians know that the Israelis are not Christians and they are not fighting Israel on grounds of religion. They are merely defending themselves and asserting their fundamental human rights after being under zionist occupation for 75 years.
“Instead of praying for Israel’s victory specifically, we invite Pastor Adeboye to pray for failure for the oppressor between Israel and Palestine. He should pray for an end to slavery and apartheid in the Middle East and in other parts of the world. Finally, he should pray for peace in Nigeria and the world as a whole.
“On these three prayer points, therefore, we pour out our hearts. We humble ourselves before the Almighty Creator. Oh God of All Nations, the Invincible, God the Invissible, God the All-Knowing, God the King of Kings, the Judge of all judges, the Most Powerful of all powers, we call upon You today that You ensure that failure shall be the portion of whoever is the oppressor between Israel and Palestine. We pray for peace in Nigeria and the world at large.
“All we are asking our G. O. to do is to join us as we say ‘Amen’ to those prayers. It will be enough for the G. O. to tweet the same prayer to Nigerians so that they may be convinced that he has no intention of backing the oppressor.”