The megastardom of Temitope Joshua came with controversies, starting from the purported miracles and healing at the Synagogue Church of All Nation (SCOAN) to humanitarian works and his relationship with other pastors.
Notwithstanding, despite barrage of controversies, his huge followership and weekly attendees at his Lagos church did not wane.
The cosmopolitan pastor and televangelist, popularly addressed as TB Joshua, bade the world a final goodbye on Saturday. He is survived by his wife Evelyn Joshua and three children.
While glowing tributes continue to pour in from across Africa and beyond, POLITICS NIGERIA takes a look at these six controversies that rocked the lifetime of the preacher.
Denouncement from other pastors
Many pentecostal church pastors openly criticised Joshua and the work he was doing at SCOAN as they do not believe in his mode of operation.
Former President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Rev. Ayo Oritsejafor said before Joshua could even qualify to be a PFN member, he should show who tutored him as a pastor in the first place.
The SCOAN leader reportedly said he was converted in his mother’s womb.
“Jesus did not say by their words you will know them; he said by the fruit you shall know them. If T.B. Joshua can show me his pastor who pastored him before he said he was called into the ministry; if T.B. Joshua can tell me when he got converted and how he got converted, then we would consider him. Anybody who is a Christian is a Christian because he received Jesus Christ at a point.”
“I gather he said he was converted in his mother’s womb and I don’t see anybody like that in the Bible. It is a conscious decision you make and it doesn’t happen in your mother’s womb,” Reverend Oritsejafor said.
Another vocal critic of the late preacher was Pastor Chris Okotie who described him as a ‘son of the devil’.
HIV deaths In London
TB Joshua purportedly healed terminal diseases and infections including the deadly HIV/Aids, in his church. However, in 2011, several media houses in the United Kingdom reported that no fewer than three HIV patients died in London after they stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their pastors.
The HIV prevention charity African Health Policy Network (AHPN) believed that The SCOAN was one of those involved in such practices although the three in question have no demonstrable link to the SCOAN.
But Joshua denied, saying; “No, we do not ask people to stop taking their medication”.
2014 building collapse
On 12 September 2014, a guesthouse collapsed in the SCOAN’s premises in Lagos killing at least 115 people, of which majority are foreigners. The circumstances that led to the collapse generated furore with the former Nigerian Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode alleging Nigeria’s intelligence agencies ‘blew up’ the building.
The controversies however deepened when Joshua failed to appear at the Lagos State panel even after receiving summons.
Private jet
On 14 September 2015, it was reported that Joshua secretly purchased a $60 Million Gulfstream G550 Private Jet.
“Widely-known as TB Joshua, the church leader took possession of the nearly brand-new Gulfstream G550 aircraft in April 2015, a few months after a building collapse at the premises of his megachurch in the Ikotun-Egbe suburb of Lagos killed 116 people. Registered as “Synagogue Of Nations,” the jet was purchased using the Bank Of Utah trustee as the front for purchasing the jet.”
Pastor TB Joshua’s jet is the most expensive of the four owned by Nigerian pastors. Pastor David Oyedepo (Bombardier Challenger 604), Pastor Enoch Adeboye (Gulfstream GIV), and Ayo Oritsejafor (Bombardier Challenger 601) are also jet owners,” SaharaReporters stated.
However, an aide to the late preacher denied such, debunking SaharaReporters story.
Boko Haram confession
In March 2014, a self-confessed member of the Islamic sect Boko Haram said he came to The SCOAN headquarters in Lagos to ‘bomb’ the church.
According to him, it was Joshua’s prayers that prevented the plan and later compelled him to confess.
Several Nigerians however called for an investigation into the incident based on the claims that were made.
Panama Papers
Premium Times newspaper stated that Joshua incorporated a company called Chillon Consultancy Limited in the British Virgin Islands in June 2006, based on reports stemming from the Panama Papers leak.
The leak is 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities leaked beginning on 3 April 2016.
Other Nigerians fingered in Panama Papers include Senate President, Bukola Saraki; former Senate President, David Mark; a former Delta State Governor, James Ibori; a former Army chief and Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.) and Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
But Joshua, in a swift reaction, denied his involvement.
“I am not a businessman and have no business whatsoever. What God has given me is more than enough,” he wrote via Facebook.
