Nigeria’s Synagogue Church Denies Widespread Abuse By Founder (Worthy News In-Depth)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LAGOS (Worthy News) – The Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), one of the world’s largest Christian evangelical churches, denied Tuesday that its late founder was involved in widespread abuse and torture.
The British public broadcaster BBC said Monday that it had found evidence that SCOAN founder Temitope Balogun Joshua, popularly known as TB Joshua, was involved in atrocities, including rape and forced abortions.
The abuses happened in a secretive compound in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, over almost 20 years, alleged dozens of former members, including five British nationals.
TB Joshua was a charismatic and hugely successful preacher and televangelist. Till his sudden death in June 2021 at age 57 of an undisclosed cause, he was praised as one of the most influential pastors in African history.
He built an evangelical empire that counted dozens of political leaders, celebrities, and international footballers among his associates.
Joshua also amassed great wealth throughout his career, possessing a fleet of cars and traveling via private jet, though many Nigerian Christians live in deep poverty.
It was also a far cry from his humble beginnings. He was born to an impoverished family on June 12, 1963, and raised by a Muslim uncle after his Christian father died.
GLOBAL FOLLOWING
However, his life changed in the late 1990s after founding SCOAN on a wave of “miracle healing” services impacting Africa. He eventually got a massive global following, including through the Emmanuel TV network run by his megachurch.
Yet behind the scenes, numerous members were abused by the man that they thought could be trusted, according to the BBC’s two-year investigation.
The BBC said it had obtained dozens of eyewitness accounts of “physical violence or torture carried out by Joshua, including instances of child abuse and people being whipped and chained.”
Additionally, “numerous women” say they were sexually assaulted by Joshua, with several claiming they were “repeatedly raped” for years inside the compound, the BBC said.
There are reportedly multiple allegations of “forced abortions” inside the church following the alleged rapes by Joshua, including one woman who says she had five terminations.
Jessica Kaimu, from Namibia, said her ordeal lasted more than five years. She recalled that she was just 17 when Joshua first raped her. She added that subsequent instances of rape by TB Joshua led to her having “five forced abortions” while there.
“These were backdoor type… medical treatments that we were going through… it could have killed us,” she told the BBC.
Other interviewees recalled that they were stripped and beaten with electrical cables and horse whips and routinely denied sleep.
MIRACLE HEALINGS
The BBC also investigated “Multiple first-hand accounts detailing how Joshua faked his “miracle healings,” which were broadcast to millions worldwide.
Viewers with a health issue were told to touch the screen when Joshua spoke.
Men and women also used to fall during “healing” services. There has been debate about these phenomena in several churches, with some Christians arguing that in the Bible, Jesus told those He healed to “stand up” or “rise” but never to fall in reference to His resurrection and victory over death as Christ.
One of the victims, a British woman called Rae, was 21 years old when she abandoned her degree at Brighton University in 2002 and was recruited into the church, the BBC said.
She spent the next 12 years as one of Joshua’s so-called “disciples” inside his maze-like concrete compound in Lagos.
At least 150 visitors lived with him as “disciples” inside his compound in Lagos, sometimes for decades. Rae spent 12 years there.
However, Scoan spokesperson Dare Adejumo described the documentary as “fictional narratives and propaganda” and claimed those interviewed were “unknown” to the church.
‘ROADSIDE JOURNALISM’
The BBC, he said, “has obviously shot itself in the foot by its compromise and roadside journalism. Some of those identified there are relics of homosexual and lesbian associates. My findings further show that everything the BBC put together is strange to SCOAN.”
He added, “One other clearly illogical thing in the charade is the BBC’s categorical statement that the man of God was involved in all the abuse for over two decades! How can that be in a nation governed by law? It shows the station’s crude disrespect and bizarre perception of Nigeria.”
In remarks aimed at the BBC, he said: “Thank God your report exonerated his only wife of any wrongdoings throughout the decades of your so-called investigated lopsided work.”
The spokesman wondered: “Did you think any wife at all can see and watch all those nonsensical and annoying scenarios you painted for decades and still kept silent? I am yet to read or see such a woman in the universe!”
He stressed that “thousands” of people were healed or received other miracles and tremendously benefited from the “anointing and grace the Lord” gave to “His servant.”
Joshua was popular for miracles, which he said delivered followers and visitors of ailments ranging from cancer and HIV/AIDS to chronic migraines and blindness.
Adejumo accused the interviewees of only accusing Joshua after his death, charges they deny.
EXTENSIVE RESEARCH
The BBC’s investigation with the international media platform openDemocracy is the first time multiple former church insiders have come forward to speak on the record.
They said they spent years trying to raise the alarm but were effectively silenced.
Four of the British citizens who spoke to the BBC say they reported the abuse to the British authorities after escaping the church but that no further action was taken.
Several witnesses in Nigeria claimed they were physically attacked and, in one case, shot at after previously speaking out against the abuse and posting videos containing allegations on video sharing service YouTube.
A BBC crew that attempted to record footage of the church’s Lagos compound from a public street in March 2022 said it was fired at by the church’s security and detained “for a number of hours.”
During Joshua’s lifetime, there were more controversies, including when a guesthouse for church pilgrims collapsed in 2014, killing at least 116 people.
Troubles also arose after Nigeria’s Lagos state government turned to Joshua to control the spread of the deadly Ebola virus disease during the 2014 outbreak in other West African countries.
‘ANOINTING’ WATER
Officials asked Joshua to tell infected followers in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone – the worst affected countries – not to travel to Joshua’s Lagos church for healing.
He agreed to suspend some of the church’s healing programs but is also said to have sent 4,000 bottles of ‘anointing’ water to Sierra Leone, claiming they could “cure” the disease.
Joshua’s ‘anointing’ water was always in high demand – in 2013, a rush for the bottles at his church in Ghana led to the death of four people in a stampede.
He never faced charges over these incidents despite his church being accused of “criminal
negligence,” with law enforcement officials citing difficulties apportioning blame to him.
Yet the Christian Association of Nigeria (Can) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) declined cooperating with him. They described him as an “impostor” who belonged to a group of “occults” that had infiltrated Christianity.
The controversies have underscored broader concerns about megachurches in Nigeria and other African nations following several scandals. It wasn’t immediately clear what impact the revelations would have on devoted Christians living in several parts of Nigeria.
Thousands of Christians have been killed in recent years in Nigeria, one of the most violent nations towards Christian believers, rights activists say.
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