(Editorial) SCOAN and that BBC’s Banditry on Nigeria’s Surviving Tourist Hub
The Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), founded by the late televangelist, Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua (TB Joshua) has come under some levels of public scrutiny since the airing of part one of a three-part expose on the alleged secret lives of the late televangelist, by the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Africa Eye.
The over-150-minute long video, divided into three episodes and published on YouTube, titled, “Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua”, showed video testimonies of several witnesses levelling multiple damning allegations against the late prophet.
The testimonies, from former disciples and church workers, alleged that the prophet allegedly manipulated and physically abused them into staying with him for many years. Most of them, mostly from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Namibia, and South Africa stated that they spent between 10 and 14 years in the Synagogue based on that manipulation.
From all modesty, there are strong indications that the BBC is embarrassing not only investigative journalism, but African culture as it concerns the dead.
No doubt, Business Hilights argues that the beauty of investigative journalism is that after the report, the person at the centre is given the right of reply.
In this case, TB Joshua would not reply because he is dead, thus, raising a pertinent question of what actually did the BBC intends to achieve.
Undercover checks by our reporters since the passing away of the founder, TB Joshua, the church, rather than shrinking in popularity and strength, it is towering in still being the number one in Nigeria’s tourism hub by way of attracting more foreigners to the country more than any other entity.
By targeting and mainly speaking to foreigners in the BBC report, it is very easy to decipher that the report intends to kill the spirit of the international followers and in the process frustrate the tourism potentials and international goodwill of the church.
We at Business Hilights are of the view that the Federal Government should come into this matter to at least query BBC why investigating the dead who cannot defend self when there are serious national issue that are begging for investigations.
Already, prominent Nigerians have started talking.
In the views of former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani Kayode, he averred that “So true! You touched many lives, fought a good fight, stood till the end and established a great and enduring legacy.
“No man or institution can destroy it with dirty lies: not even the BBC!
Continue to rest in peace brother and thanks for being such a blessing to the Church, the Christian faith, humanity and our beloved nation Nigeria.
We are and shall always be very proud of you,” FFK noted.
In the views of Chinelo Agina Obogo, she said “BBC Africa just published a documentary about TB Joshua, alleging all sorts of crimes against him; A man who is late and can’t defend himself. Basically shaving off a man’s hair in his absence.”
Chinelo added that “You will never see them do a documentary about the ethnic cleansing happening in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Benue or the role of the British government in aiding and abetting corruption in Nigeria or how oil companies bribed Nigerian lawmakers not to pass PIB for years.”
In the analysis of Miss Jewel Chika “Mrs. Evelyn Joshua, the wife of the late pastor is currently the lead pastor of SCOAN and she has fully taken over the church, guess what ? The church is booming.”
“Evelyn has a special gift of healing, her church services are packed out just like when her hubby was still alive.
“After reading this story, you should know why that stup!d story of Tb Joshua is surfacing now.
“Evenlyn is the target, how dare she try to fight to take over the church from foreigners’ oshi…
It is giving the vibes of “if we can’t have the church, let’s cripple it”
“TB Joshua is dead, what’s the essence of the story, to arrest a dead man? Or for what?
Talking more on the tourism angle which the report intends to destroy, in May, 2017, it was Business Hilights that first broke the news of Prophet TB Joshua’s possible relocation to Israel and what Nigeria stands to lose in the process after all; https://businesshilights.com.ng/2017/05/01/what-nigeriall-lose-if-tj-joshua-yields-to-israeli-calls-to-relocate-to-galilee-in-israel/
The national and international strategic importance of the breaking news which went viral encouraged Prophet TB Joshua to call the publisher, Prince Stan Okenwa, on phone and officially invited him to the Synagogue to see him personally.
It would be recalled that within the period of the trending story, the former Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed were among major stakeholders that intervened against the relocation move. The Federal Government’s action was to make sure that the tourist centre continues to flourish in Nigeria.
Accordingly, having seen the BBC’s video, our analysts came to the conclusion that it is a frontal and more of a banditry attack on Nigeria’s only surviving international tourism hub which must be protected at all cost by all including the government and lovers of goodwill in Nigeria and Africa.
