Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder and General Overseer of Living Faith Church a.k.a Winners’ Chapel who made headlines days ago after speaking out against the controversial hate speech bill, is on the news again after a photo of his alleged bodyguards went viral.

Oyedepo was spotted in the viral photo, surrounded by 9 men as he preached at his church’s annual programme ‘Shiloh’. The photo ignited mixed reactions as some social media user claimed the men are his bodyguards, while others defended the church leader; stating that the men are ushers stationed at the altar to control the crowd.

Twitter user @iam_Chisco1 who first shared his observation, tweeted “9 bodyguard protecting Bishop Oyedepo right in the alter of God…I wonder who he is actually afraid of when Jesus is by his side.”

Here are reactions to the tweet below;

@iam_selom tweeted: “ More than 15 bodyguard protecting Bishop Oyedepo right in the alter of God…I wonder who he is actually afraid of when Jesus is by his side.”

@wainaina_john tweeted: “The social religious facade messing Africa! Obviously the 9 bodyguards are hired to keep all inane bigots surrounding him at bay. There’s no way success-hungry gullibles can mean well to a rich clergyman, moreso after offering hard-earned pennies to get hopefully instant miracles”

@ebube_iam tweeted: “They’re not bodyguards, they are called Protocols, they are from the Protocol department of the church. Even your political leaders have them. When last did you even go to church? Abi you just want to trend cos the stupid ones will join you in this thread”

@IGlare tweeted : ” I see some fellows calling them ushers, try getting close to that ur bishop since he is ur pastor, and see the true meaning of Security guards. I have seen them manhandle worshippers when your Bishop is passing. Afterall he slapped a lady called her witch & you all hailed him.”

@tequaneV tweeted: “Those are crowd control unit members. I am one of them in my local assembly, it’s standard protocol in LFC worldwide to have CCU altar squad members standing when the Pastor in charge of the local assembly is preaching. don’t post trash dude”

@nonsookongwu tweeted: “Till tmr, my boss will always move with armed police people and crowd control team..after an experience he had preaching somewhere & he was almost suffocated by crowd. I nfact, those are his prime requirements if he must attend any programme. Call it what u want, baba is being safe”

@leyislee tweeted: ” Nigeria has turned everyone to critics, we criticize everything even what we know nothing about or should care less about. Shiloh is going on and hundreds of thousands are there from so many Countries. Order is needed. It’s not like that on Normal service days”

@enyola tweeted: “Protocol is English… if I approach that alter without invitation, will hey stop me from having access to him? If the answer is yes, they are part-time bodyguards and they are probably doing it for free so calling it ushers/protocol makes it sound like they are doing it for God.”