The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has announced has released a 3-part investigative documentary revealing the atrocities and sexual crimes committed by late Pastor Temitope Balogun Joshua, popularly known as TB. Joshua.
The millionaire cleric died on June 5, 2021 after a heart attack.
As part of the investigation, the British paper said interviewed at least 30 former members and workers of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).
The first part of the documentary has been released today January 8.
The 3-part documentary revealed the secret lifestyle of TB Joshua. It detailed tales of abuse, harassment, rape, manipulation, and staged miracles. Sources told the BBC that the church knew about all the allegations but never probed them. The alleged sexual crime is said to have spanned over two decades.
A part of the documentary revealed how SCOAN protected its congregation from the truth about the collapse of one of the church’s guesthouses in 2014.
A video that was shown multiple times to members on Emmanuel TV showed a short footage of the structure with something that seemed like an aircraft flying over it.
“On television, they were showing us the building had been bombed,” one of the sources who lost her daughter in the collapsed building told the BBC.
SCOAN is situated at Ikotun-Egbe area of Lagos State. The church grew from a local evangelical congregation into a multimillion-dollar church with worshipers from all around the globe.
The aircraft story fed to the members was all a lie, Mr Emmanuel, one of the young men who served TB Joshua told the BBC. Emmanuel claimed the church had a structural defect.
The foundation of the building was inadequate for the floors built on it, Rae, a British citizen who attended the church and was a disciple, corroborated. She added that Joshua insisted that the building be raised despite professional advice.
“They told us don’t tell what you know,” Emmanuel, another worker at SCOAN said in the film. “They knew something was wrong with the building but they were managing it.”
SCOAN later paid the families of the victims cash as compensation which they interpreted to be “hush money”.
Also, a church worker who was part of team who handed the money to victims’ families in South Africa said TB Joshua directed that she instruct the bereaved families not to speak to the media. Then, Joshua personally threatened families who refused the money, sources told the BBC.
“The building collapse is a good example of everyday life under TB Joshua. It is just a series of cover-ups. It is just this was so big it was almost impossible for him to make it go away,” Rae said
The BBC found that people were dismembered under the debris and dead bodies were transferred in SCOAN ambulances to hide the reality of the disaster from the media to protect both the image of the church and TB Joshua.
Survivors of TB Joshua’s sexual exploitation recounted how they were manipulated and silenced even when they knew the relationship they had with “daddy” was abusive. These women were part of TB Joshua’s discipleship. Several women recounted how he molested and raped them. A few women who resisted his assault at first were threatened into submission, one of the women told the BBC.
TB Joshua told the women he was sexually assaulting them for their salvation, all the women said. These women joined the synagogue when they were teenagers and spent years before finally leaving. A woman identified as Abisola said she was in the church for 14 years and was raped throughout her stay. When the women get pregnant as a result of being raped many times, they were forced to get an abortion in a dingy clinic inside the synagogue.
“We went into his room and I stood there. He said ‘off your clothes’ so I removed my clothes he just pointed so I lay down and then he raped me. He broke my virginity. I was screaming and he was whispering in my ears that I should stop acting like a baby. I was 17 years old. I was underage,” one of the women said.
One of the survivors confronted TB Joshua after she managed to escape. She recorded the encounter in videos she shared with the BBC. In the video, a security officer was heard threatening to shoot at the lady. Survivors said they were targeted, beaten, and shot at by thugs suspected of working for the pastor.
The BBC’s documentary revealed how the church staged managed and exaggerated miracles that were televised. People were told to exaggerate their problems so they could be healed, likewise, their healing so it could be “perfected by God”, a source who worked at the miracle department told the BBC.
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