10th January, 2024
On the 12th day of January, 2010, and around 4:53 pm, a monumental tragedy gripped Haiti. A 7.0M earthquake with 13 kilometres depth shook that Caribbean country leading to between 220,000 and 316,000 deaths. Those were the figures given by the Haitian government. The government also said the earthquake and the consequential aftershocks led to the collapse or severe damage of 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings.
The disaster generated a global humanitarian response. Countries and organisations responded to calls for humanitarian aid. Nigerian controversial preacher, Temitope Balogun Joshua also who had been accused of many sordid deeds, also intervened in the plight of the suffering Haitians. He sent a humanitarian team to that country. One of the team members was a white doctor. He was one of the many white people working with TB Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations.
At the time, I was a Reporter with P.M. News, which was then a vibrant and feared Lagos-based evening newspaper. We had heard that Joshua was sleeping with the wife of the said white doctor. I was sent to SCOAN at Ikotun to hear its side of the story.
The man who handled media relations for the church ( I don’t remember his name) facilitated my meeting with another white guy who he said was a younger brother to the doctor. They denied the allegation. They also treated me like a VIP and took me a tour of the facilities within the imposing Synagogue building.
But I couldn’t help noticing that they panicked. I understood their fears as Joshua and his SCOAN were frequently accused of acts of debauchery and fetish practices. The media guy kept calling to know if I was not going to write something damning about the church.
Since there was no way we could verify that Joshua was committing adultery with the wife of the doctor, my office decided to drop the idea of publishing any news story about it. Thereafter, I got a message that Joshua wanted to see me. As a journalist, I would have honoured the invitation of Satan himself if there was an opportunity to interview him.
So, one night, I sat facing Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, founder of Synagogue Church of all Nations, in his comfy office. I was surprised the soft speaking Joshua who appeared too shy to look at me directly did not fit the image of a man who had a bad reputation. But I knew that even Satan could put up the appearance of an angel.
While expressing relief that I did not go ahead to write a negative story about him, he offered me a part- time job in his church. He wanted me to be an in-house writer. He said this would still give me time to do my regular job.
I did not want Joshua’s offered job. I was looking for news and not a job. I asked him for an exclusive interview. He did not accede to my request. Moreover, I could not bring myself to write in SCOAN’s publication where I would have to laud Joshua as a man of God when I actually did not believe he was one.
Of course, Joshua managed to debunk many of the allegations against him and discredit his accusers. He was a powerful man who befriended presidents of nations. Politicians respected and feted him. When he died in 2021, powerful people mourned him. His atrocities were not investigated by the authorities even though his victims duly reported to them.
In 2014, a guesthouse of SCOAN collapsed killing 116 people. The coroner that conducted the hearing on the incident indicted SCOAN and recommended it be prosecuted for criminal negligence. While the engineers that handled the building found to lack structural integrity, and their companies were being prosecuted by the Lagos State Government as they were charged with 110 counts bordering on involuntary manslaughter, Joshua and his church remained untouchable.
The trending BBC three-part documentary which exposes Joshua’s evil deeds, to my mind, is a sad commentary on how crimes and evil deeds can go unchecked in our society when they are committed by powerful men including those who use religion that oppress others.
In Nigeria, there are superstar pastors accused of sexual molestation of ladies, and yet the authorities do nothing about it. Maybe we wait until revelatory documentaries are made after their death before we take their alleged crimes seriously.
Apart from the serious crimes, we have many manipulative and oppressive pastors today.
They make their poor followers contribute to the setting up of a church-owned university or school. Yet the fees charged for these schools are too high. The poor members of the churches cannot afford to send their children to those schools.
They fraudulently demand all kinds of offerings from the members of their churches and impost all sorts of levies on them. They influence and cajole even the poorest of their members contribute to vainglorious church building and camp projects.
These things keep happening uncontrolled. So, you see, TB is not the worst of them. He is just one of them.
Betta Edu: Let us commend President Tinubu
Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation suspended by President Bola Tinubu, is now being grilled by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over an alleged N585 million frauds/ attempt to commit fraud.
It is wrong to jump into conclusion that Edu is guilty. But by suspending Edu, Tinubu may have sounded a warning that there are no sacred cows in his government. Yes, Edu was prominent during the presidential campaigns. Yes, Edu is brilliant and beautiful. Yes, Edu was rewarded with a ministerial position. But Edu must face justice if it is established that she has changed committed any act of malfeasance.
Kudos to Mr. President.