Adeboye to Tinubu: Give Service Chiefs 3-Month Ultimatum to End Terrorist, Sponsors or Resign

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has called on the Federal Government to take decisive action against terrorists and their sponsors in response to the recent threat of possible U.S. military intervention in Nigeria.

Speaking during the November Holy Ghost Service on Friday, Adeboye urged President Bola Tinubu to give the newly appointed service chiefs a three-month deadline to eliminate terrorism and dismantle its financial networks.

He added that any service chief unable to meet the target within the timeframe should resign from office.

The cleric said, “This is not the time for apportioning blame. Our President inherited this problem, it started before him.”

Reflecting on the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Adeboye revealed that he had privately urged him to take firm action when the wave of killings across the country became overwhelming, but the advice was not heeded

He said, “Some of you will remember who called the service chiefs together and said, ‘I give you three months, get rid of all these Boko Haram people or resign. It’s not allowed to tell you who gave him that advice. He ran with that advice, but he didn’t follow it through, because he gave the order as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and the security operatives moved fast.

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“But three months went by, and the work was not done. So I went to see him. It wasn’t unusual. This time, somehow, the press got to know that I visited him. Of course, they were not there when we talked.

“Unfortunately, like I said, he’s not alive now. I would have asked you to go and ask him, ‘Sir, why didn’t you follow through? Because when three months passed and the work wasn’t done, why didn’t you proceed with your, are we going to call it threat?’

“I won’t tell you the details, but one thing came out of that meeting, which will lead me to my next advice to our government, in case there’s any of you who can get across to them. When giving orders to the service chiefs this time around, we should make it clear to them that they are not only to eliminate the terrorists but also their sponsors, no matter how influential they may be.”

Adeboye warned that if the US eventually makes its way into Nigeria, China, Russia, and other world powers would not come to the country’s rescue.

He stated, “When I say our leaders should move fast, move diplomatically, and move wisely, we must take note of the fact that if America should attack us, China is not coming to defend us. Russia will not come to defend us.

“All the so-called world leaders will talk, they will condemn what America has done in the strongest terms, that’s all they will do. Britain is not going to come and help us. No other foreign power will come to our aid.

“This is not the time for joking. This is not the time for drama. This is not the time for semantics. This is not the time to begin to argue, is it suicide or kidnapping or whatever name they call it? And this is not the time to say, ‘Ah, it’s not Christians alone, Muslims are also involved.’ The point is, people are dying. Innocent people are dying.”

Adeboye also appealed to President Tinubu to engage in dialogue with U.S. President Donald Trump, urging him to “give him a window of 100 days” to address Nigeria’s security challenges.

He explained that once Tinubu secures Trump’s understanding to allow “100 days to halt the attacks,” the President should, in turn, issue a strict directive to the service chiefs and security agencies to resolve the crisis within 90 days.

According to him, “Let the government use diplomatic methods to convince President Trump to give us 100 days of grace. All our service chiefs, fortunately, are new, should perform within three months, or resign.”

Adeboye’s remarks came in response to Trump’s recent comments on his Truth Social platform, where he claimed that Christianity in Nigeria was facing an “existential threat” from extremist groups.

Trump warned that the United States “cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening,” and vowed that his administration would be “ready, willing and able to protect our great Christian population around the world.”

He also called on U.S. lawmakers, including Congressman Riley Moore and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, to investigate the situation and report their findings to him.