The General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, has suspended about 5,000 workers of the church who did not attend the National Workers Meeting held at the wee hours of Saturday, May 3, 2014, after the month’s Holy Ghost Service at the Church’s Redemption Camp, Km. 46, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway. Mowe, Ogun State.
The annual National Workers’ Meeting which is a forum for all the workers in the church to meet with the leadership was made compulsory for all the workers. The South Western zone of the church which comprises Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta States normally have their meetings at the Camp for convenience whenever a circular is sent concerning such meetings.
There was an instruction from the office of the Special Assistant to the General Overseer, passed through the pastors in charge of the Provinces, through the pastors in charge of Areas, down to the pastors in charge of Parishes, that any worker who knows that he/she would not attend the meeting should write to the General Overseer through their respective pastors in charge of their Province.
Daddy G.O, as he is fondly called, also reminded those who attended the Holy Communion Service on Thursday, preceding the May 2014 Holy Ghost Service, that every pastor should ensure that his/her workers who have not taken permission should come for the meeting. The threat to suspend any erring worker was not communicated, but at the end of the meeting, the move was agreed upon and Area Pastors were informed to pass the message to all the absentee workers under their command. We spoke with one of the aides to Daddy G.O, Pastor Olukunmi Oyewale, on Saturday May 24, 2014 and he told us more about the reasons for Daddy G.O’s action: “During the meeting, Baba did not say anything like that, but just like the way it happened last year, I think he met with the Provincial and Area Pastors separately and the decision was reached there. We were not clear about it as well because he didn’t say it directly during the meeting, but when it becomes a general issue in all the South Western zone, then we believe it might have come from him. I’m in Otta, Ogun State presently and the Provincial Pastor here also gave the same directive, so I believe it’s a general order from Daddy G.O. But, just like I said, the decision wasn’t taken in the presence of all the workers that attended the meeting”. Pastor Olukunmi also added that Daddy G.O might have decided to take this disciplinary measure because, “before now, every worker in Redeemed Church knows that the May Workers’ Meeting is very compulsory. Even Daddy Adeboye said if you are going to be working with him, you have to attend this meeting that comes once every year and that if you can’t come (because he understands that some people may be unavoidably absent due to work or sickness), you have to write a letter through your Provincial Pastor stating the reason(s) why you won’t be there. This practice has been on for a long time, so if you didn’t attend and yet without any reason or failed to write a letter to that effect, that makes it intentional because it is statutory.” The meeting which is usually held at the Redemption Camp of the church had been decentralized to make it easy for the workers to attend. Port Harcourt, Rivers State zone covers all the workers in the Southern part of the country while that of the North holds in Jos, Plateau State. The Redeemed Christian Church of God started suspending absentee workers indefinitely since May 2003 to forestall indiscipline among its workforce.