On Disciples: The Cult Of T B Joshua, By Debo Adeniran

I have watched the 3-episode documentary that sought to document the many atrocities allegedly committed by the late T.B Joshua, a self-acclaimed Man of God, Prophet and Televangelist, founder of the Synagogue – Church of all Nations, a number of times.

They are to me, striking and quite funny.It is very convenient to jump on the bandwagon of criticism and sensationalism and condemn in the strongest terms the abhorrent and horrendous pictures painted of the popular dead and buried Man of God.

I am not a bandwagon person so I’m not jumping on it. I am also not a religious person neither do I believe in prayers, miracles or predictions. On this, I am a neutral observer, who believe issues like this ought to be critically studied before taking a stand.

I must, however, express my reservation on the timing of this documentary. There is actually no time too early or late for a reveal, but this documentary makes one ponder on the purpose it’s meant to serve. Many of the things shown had been endlessly talked about before now, so nothing particularly new to hear or know.

The said Man of God is long dead, buried and has joined his ancestors if there is anything like that popular belief. If these allegations were actually true, who now will be held accountable and responsible for all those crimes? Why have all these people been quiet up until now?

Many of them, the supposed victims, willingly, out of their own volition, walked into the church and retained their membership for several years while many of those featured in the video also stayed for a period of time longer than a decade.

If they therefore willingly partook in the ‘shady activities’ of this magnitude then, they too, should be further interrogated and investigated. The claims they have to their continued participation in these despicable acts till it lasted was forceful manipulation, coercive intimidation, palpable fear, enslavement and diabolical hypnotism don’t hold any value.

The person of the late TB Joshua since he got into National reckoning was believed to be, like most religious practices, shrouded in a lot of secrecy and possibly mysteries, but he was smart enough to have ALMOST ALL of his ways documented through listless number of video recordings. How come some of these ‘inhumane violations and sexual infractions’ were not captured on video either on body cameras, CCTV or by some other secret recordings?

T.B Joshua had been a controversial figure since the 90s when he got into National consciousness through his never-seen-before, jaw dropping type of miracles in a sprawling, decrepit church located at a murky, swampy part of Ìkọ̀tún, Lagos.

I remember that there was a time in the early 90s when Kọ́láwọlé Ọláwuyì, a popular radio presenter, now late, did a very elaborate ‘exposé’ on the church’s modus operandi on a syndicated Radio Nigeria, Ìbàdàn programme, Ìrírí Ayé. It was a tale of strange happenings and occurrences. He called TB Joshua out and challenged him.

He also invited TBJ to the radio station but he characteristically never showed up.The acclaimed MoG had been hugely believed to be controversial from the onset. Many had the intuition and predilection to stay far away from Joshua, his church and any other thing that has to do with him.

Fast forward to the time he did an incredibly outstanding job of overhauling his image and persona. He became really sophisticated and thoroughly polished in his conduct and dressing. He discarded long robes for designer shirts, trousers and shoes. He reorganized his church settings and Òyìnbó people seemed to be the ones in charge of everything in the church.

All he preached was Jesus Christ in clear, simple terms. He was humble and very unassuming at least in his public conduct. He carried food to the poor on his head, fed those who were hungry and healed those who were sick. Many of his good deeds were countless, documented and accounted for. He got philanthropic. Despite and inspite of all these, controversies still dogged him.

Many mainstream, popular and more refined and sophisticated churches and leaders (particularly Pentecostal) will have nothing to do with him simply because, they said he wasn’t under any ministry before he got popular, his modus operandi was crude and not so pleasant to watch, that his way of healing or performing miracles were totally unusual and strange to the Nigerian ‘body of Christ’.

Simply put, he was deemed obscure, bizarre and demonic and so was detested, alienated and clearly avoided. He remained unloved by the Christian leadership in Nigeria and he was totally cut off but deified by his admirers. He never was accepted into neither CAN nor PFN, which his church claimed he never sought after. They stood far away and apart from him. But despite this peer apathy, his healing powers were solicited by world leaders, celebrities and powerful individuals.

MY OPINION

If all those miracles were actually fake how come they couldn’t find one person to disavow the so called miracles as perpetrated, concocted and orchestrated ones. I believe some people were truly healed, at least, of their emotional, psychological, hunger and other material needs. Even it’s on record that Jesus Christ didn’t heal everyone in his lifetime.

The reactions of those who got healed were usually too spontaneous to be fake; and if they actually faked all those spectacles, then they deserve the Oscar’s.

There is a dichotomy between private and public life particularly true of public figures lives. We should not be too taken in by their conducts on the outside and ignore the possibility of their being a totally different person on the inside.

The agenda behind that BBC broadcast is yet unknown but to me it is beyond mere exposures on a highly controversial cleric but a subtle reminder that Nigerian churches are mostly fake and it is a crafty way to say that Nigeria, nay, Africa is not safe for white people and other coloured foreigners.

I must point out here that, everyone reserves the right to choose what religion they adhere to and practice. A religious leader of TB Joshua standing wouldn’t have coerced anyone to join his congregation nor accept his teachings. He couldn’t have forced people to part with their belongings to him or broken into their homes to extort them.

Every adult member of his congregation made a deliberate choice to join his congregation, probably with their children and wards, and knew why they sustain their stay there during the lifetime of the founder and even after his passing.

Torture and rape are crimes against humanity just as fakery and extortion are corruption and financial crimes. All of these crimes couldn’t have been committed in an open environment and cameras, where the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) operated and still operates. Many similar cases leveled against the church and its founder turned out to be spurious and malicious when TB Joshua was alive.

Why would BBC want to reopen dead and buried wounds after years that the progenitor of the establishment is dead and buried? BBC should get itself busy with other verifiable information gathering rather than orchestrating a ring of manipulative nitwits to engage in unwarranted rumour peddling, wicked innuendoes, and baseless conjectures aimed at destroying the person, distorting the image and scandalizing the establishment of the dead who is no longer in the position to defend himself.

T.B Joshua is long dead and buried after doing his own best in his chosen career. He left behind a trail of unforgettable deeds in giving spiritual succour to the weary through his evangelism and psychosocial relief to troubled minds by his philanthropy that held many western countries spellbound.

The individual and organizational beneficiaries of his generous donations and spiritual contributions wouldn’t have shied away from paying glowing tributes and giving positive testimonies if BBC had thought it right to look at the right side of history of T.B Joshua’s exploits.

It’s becoming typical of the BBC to hack down any good things coming out of Africa and it’s another attempt at social and psychological, if possible, territorial re-colonization of Africans.

Has BBC been able to dig out the truth about the benefits European countries enjoyed and still enjoy from pains, pangs, physical and psychological trauma that Africans suffered and are still suffering from enslavement, colonization and neo-colonization of Africans? Has it been able to provide documentaries on “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa?” (Apologies to Walter Rodney).

Debo Adeniran

Chairman, CACOL

President, CDHR

08037194969,dadnig@yahoo.com,www.deboadeniran.com