Four days after the mysterious collapse of the foreigners’ guest house inside Pastor T B Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) at Ikotun on the outskirts of Lagos, the government and the church’s management still do not know what brought down the building; but the founder of the church seems to have an idea. PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU reports.
Like every other Sunday, vehicles were parked on all sides of the road including the culverts demarcating the lanes. The long stretch of different brands of cars on Saturdays and Sundays is not abnormal because to commuters and residents around the Ikotun axis of Lagos, it indicates “service ongoing’ at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).
Despite the collapse of the church’s foreign guest house that has killed no fewer than 49 persons last Friday, with many others suspected to be trapped under the rubble, church activities were not disrupted last Sunday when The Nation visited for an update on the tragedy.
There was a striking overflow outside the main auditorium, along the Ikotun road as members lined up in twos watching Prophet T.B. Joshua through one of the numerous projectors, conduct the day’s affair.
While worshippers who could not get seats inside the high rise main church building were restricted around the service ground to avoid their going close to the site of the incident, all other visitors save for cleared emergency agency workers, had to report to Gate Five, which is adjacent to the collapsed structure.
Entering the church compound, which appears to be a community of its own with well tarred road, it was observed that the CCTV footage, corroborating SCOAN’s position that the collapsed six-storey was fell by a ‘strange aircraft’ was being aired on all the screens in the premises, with a narrator explaining the images to the viewers.
As the congregation watched the images with gloomy faces, they wailed at the point the building sank, with most of them cursing the “strange aircraft” and “masterminds” of the misfortune.
While the service progressed with a fatigued Joshua commending the congregation for keeping the faith and coming to church despite the disaster, the church’s security department as well as its media crew tried to keep reporters off the site of the tragedy.
As tractors and caterpillars excavated the debris, oozing stench rent the air, lending credence to the assumption that more victims may be trapped.
Mattresses, slippers, clothes and other personal effect belonging to the victims were also sighted in the debris, while fumigants were being distributed to avert spread of any disease.
The church however, exhibited high level of coordination, such that there was no stampede despite the huge crowd present at the scene. It was also observed that the church has high quality emergency equipment, most of which were used by the government officials in carrying out their functions.
The Prophet’s messageý and the strange aircraft
Although efforts to get the church to comment proved abortive, ýProphet Joshua during his sermon attributed the incident to the works of the evil one.
A black and white CCTV footage showing a “ýstrange aircraft”, going back and forth the building four times before it collapsed was shown to the congregation.
Speaking on the issue, Joshua brought out a white sheet, in which had an email sent by a converted Boko Haram member, Emmanuel Anaja.
“I did not bring this out before now because I did not want people with little faith to be scared and stop coming to church.
“Even my wife did not know of the existence of this mail. Only the people at the email department and myself knew of it and I told them not to disclose it to anyone.
“The picture on the mail is that of one Emmanuel Anaja from Kogi State, residing in Jos with his soldier parent.
“He was a Boko Haram member who came to SCOAN to plant a bomb but could not do it because of our God and got converted and went back to Jos with the explosives.
“I am showing members for them to know the God they serve. If I had shown it in the past, faithless people may not want to come to church again.
“We have to believe what happened so that our people can learn and be educated to be on the alert at all times.
“Boko Haram will not stop here. I have said it before. It won’t stop here but our God will get back at them such that they will know it is because of what they have done in this church.
“Maybe, this one will be the end of the whole thingý.
“I have remained silent because I have to. My life has been like that. People will lie from the beginning and later realise the truth. It is my life and I accept it. It is a good life,” he said.
Speaking further, the Prophet saluted the “heroes and God’s generals. It is a security matter and so, I have to allow the security people to do their job.”
The aggressiveness of the church workers
For the church’s workers particularly security operatives attached to the premises, the presence of journalists since Friday when the incident happened was anything but welcoming. Their hostilities were in sharp contrast to the humility exhibited by Prophet Joshua who, though refused to speak on the crisis, admonished reporters to ensure professionalism in reporting the mishap.
Reporters and cameramen were assaulted for doing their jobs or attempting to take news worthy pictures.
The members till Monday night, refused to give details of those affected, the number of people in the building; their names or where the injured are being treated. All information regarding victims of the mishap or their identities and family members were shrouded in secrecy, as the church’s ambulances took turns in evacuating the victims.
Even officials of the National Emergency Management Agency; Lagos State Emergency Management Agency; Red Cross and Fire Service did not have an easy ride as they were not allowed by the church members to carry out their functions.
Rather, some Germans were initially brought in to coordinate the search and rescue but for the intervention of higher authorities including the Lagos State Governor.
The arrest order by Fashola
Immediately Governor BabatundeFashola got to the scene, he queried the presence of church members ordering security personnel to send them out in order for rescue workers to do their jobs.
“What are they doing here? This is now a national disaster. Cordon-off thisý area and let anyone who is not a rescue operative be sent out so that professionals can do their jobs.
“Anyone obstructing the duties of emergency agencies should be arrested.”
To Prophet T.B. Joshua, who arrived while the governor was still issuing the arrest order, Fashola said: “We understand that this is an unfortunate situation but we need your men to understand that it is an emergency situation.
“Let them allow those who are trained to do their jobs. We cannot carryout emergency and rescue operations in this situation.”
While walking with the Prophet to his office for a closed door meeting, the governor, who observed that construction work was ongoing in the main building of the church queried the legality of the action.
The agonies of loved ones
As the excavation exercise began at the scene, relatives of missing persons who had come to make enquiry could not help but cry uncontrollably. While most of them who insisted on going to the site of the collapsed building to see things for themselves were directed into an inner chamber at the main building by church workers, others were seen roaming restlessly.
A pathetic case was that of an old man from Delta State, who claimed his son was among the workers and he was yet to see him.
The old man, who spoke Yoruba, had approached the Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning, Olutoyin Ayinde, crying uncontrollably just as he demanded funds to return to his home state, Delta.
He claimed that nobody has attended to him since the incident occurred, adding that he has neither eaten nor had good rest.
But he was swiftly taken away by security agents, who said they would look into his claims.
Similarly, the relatives of one Dayo Abbas on Monday created a scene as they arrived at the church with a coffin, demanding the remains of their son.
Abbas, according to his relatives was working as a carpenter in the collapsed building.
The coffin, which was inside a “Danfo bus”, was not allowed to drive inside and security personnel stopped journalists from taking shots of the scene.
A Television Continental (TVC) cameraman who tried taking visuals of the coffin was beaten up by a policeman with force number, 211703, just as the man threatened to damage his camera.
A lady, who had a white paper containing the details of a Zimbabwean, Greenwich Ndanga told The Nation that the church has refused to tell her his whereabouts.
She alleged that he was among the occupants of the foreign guest house, adding that they have not been able to get across to him since the incident occurred.
“No one is talking to us. I have been here since Friday, looking for him but no one is saying anything. Please help me because I do not know what to do again,” she said.
The hypocrisy of government workers
Contrary to the church’s claims that the collapse was an act of sabotage, emergency responders believed that the building must have caved-in following defective foundation.
They argued that the additional two floors being added to the existing four-storey might have affected the foundation, which they described as already weak.
According to the Lagos State Building Inspection and Control Agency, the church had no approval to add structures to the exiting building.
But while government officials claimed that the building must have caved-in following the addition that was being made to the existing four-storey building, they turned a blind eye to the church’s main auditorium which has also added additional structures.
Both state and Federal Government officials who saw the main auditorium, refused to comment on it or assess its risk levels to forestall another mishap.
Drama as Congolese prophesies collapse of main auditorium
Another drama ensued after a Sweden based Congolese prophesied the collapse of the church’s main auditorium.
The prophet, Jean-Claude Kibonzy, who was detained by security operatives manning the entrance of the church and later chased out of the premises, alleged that he had warned the church two years ago about last Friday’s disaster that has killed 49 people so far.
Showing copies of printed mails dated as far as August 2012, Kibonzy said he was forced to speak to the media because the church authorities have prevented Prophet T.B. Joshua from receiving his messages and emails.
He alleged that he has come to the church on several occasions to deliver God’s message to the man of God, but that each time he came, the guards and security operatives always treated him with disdain.
Kibonzy, who came with his Kenyan wife, Christene and their two kids, warned of a ceaseless rain and severe calamity to befall Nigeria should anything happen to Joshua, adding that the attack was aimed at Joshua.
“My ministry is Rock of God Ministry. I am a man of God and I got revelation in 2012 about the falling of this church. God showed me everything and I saw the part of the church where people eat collapse. I came here at the end of 2012 and before I came, I called but they did not even want to pick the call.
“I paid my air ticket and came. Most of the evangelists and security people know me. That is why they do not want to see me today and treated me the way they did. They know that if Prophet Joshua should know about this, he will cast them out.
“I informed them in 2012 that God showed me this. I told them they have to act in order to safe lives but because they want to embarrass me and think that there is only one Prophet in the world.
“They do not know that God showed me the vision so that I can pass the message to them to safe people. It is because God loves Nigeria. After all, I am not a Nigerian. So, why should I be concerned about Nigeria? But it is God who sent me.
“But they embarrassed me even in 2012. I even began to cry and I said they do not know what they are doing because their people will die. I told them they are playing with fire.
“I went back and God sent me again with another message that Boko Haram want to attack Synagogue church. I came three months before it happened and I informed them but they assaulted me here.
“I told them I am here because God wants to safe the Prophet but they are threatening his life. They denied receiving my emails and I showed them copies of all the mails I have sent from Sweden.
“I do not know if they deleted all the mails and yet they did not act. God showed me the last attempt to bomb the Lagos airport and I wrote to the police. Two weeks after, they caught a suspect at the Lagos airport.
“Before I came, God showed me that it is the life of the prophet that is in danger. Anything can happen today or tomorrow because there are people threatening his life. This is the reason I came.
“I came with a message to the Nigerian nation. I am warning that if anything happens to the Prophet T.B.Joshua, there will be rainfall (in the country) that will never stop and the leadership will take control but no leadership will be alive.
“It is a warning to the people of Nigeria. All seven prophecies I gave earlier have come to pass and this is another one. I am here to show the power of God because I have tried to talk to the prophet. I have been here seven times but no one will allow me talk to him.
“They have tightened the prophet inside a cage. I am going back as soon as possible because I have passed the message.
“God has also shown me that another building will collapse in this church. This time around, it will be the overflow of the main auditorium. The prophet T.B. Joshua should take this warning seriously and act fast now in order to avert another major disaster,” he said.
