The Nation Newspaper

Tag: TB. Joshua

  • Buhari needs prayers, says TB Joshua

    Founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) Prophet TB Joshua, has canvassed special prayers for President Muhammadu Buhari.

    TB Joshua gave the appeal during on Sunday at the international headquarters of the church in Ikotun Egbe, Lagos.

    The cleric advised the prayers be directed towards ensuring that God grants the President wisdom in directing the affairs of the country.

    Read Also: AfCFTA: Free trade must be fair, says Buhari

    Joshua stated there was no perfect man on health, emphasising the need to pray for Buhari.

    According to him: “I am here to share a vision I had two weeks ago concerning my nation — Nigeria — the heartbeat of Africa. Let us pray for our government, President Muhammadu Buhari. There is no perfect man on earth.

    “Ask God to protect and fill him with wisdom enough to lead this nation. In my vision, I saw the seraphim coming down with rain. This rain comes with freshness and calmness. Nigeria, let us pray!”

     

  • Sierra Leone President Bio ‘visited TB Joshua before election’

    Sierra Leone President Juliu Maada Bio visited Lagos Pastor TB before the run-off election that led to his victory, it was leant yesterday.

    Prophet Joshua, the Founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), received the then opposition candidate at his church and prayed for him before the March 31 run-off poll which he won marginally by 51.8 per cent to defeat Samura Kamara, the candidate of the then ruling All Peoples Congress (APC).

    Sources said after the spiritual session with Prophet Joshua, Bio departed for Sierra Leone while Prophet Joshua left for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to mark the Easter holiday in the Holy Land.

    Bio’s visit followed those of other African leaders to Prophet Joshua

    Liberian President George Weah visited the Synagogue church in October 2017 to seek spiritual support for the November 7, 2017 runoff election in his country which he won.

    Tanzanian President Johnn Magufili in 2011 visited Joshua. After his victory, Joshua visited Tanzania and attended the inauguration of the new president on November 5, 2015.

    Other African politicians that visited the Ikotun Egbe, Lagos-based church included late Ghanaian President John Atta-Mills, the late Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai, the late Zambian President Frederick Chiluba and former Malawi President Joyce Banda.

  • Clinton’s prophesy: TB Joshua breaks silence

    Clinton’s prophesy: TB Joshua breaks silence

    Prophet TB Joshua has finally broken his silence after his prophecy that Hillary Clinton would win the US presidential election did not ‘come to pass’.

    The General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has sinced been mocked by many on social media after the prediction which ‘failed’ was first deleted and then reinstated on his official Facebook page following Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in the keenly contested election.

    However, members and suporters of the controversial pastor have been quick to defend him saying that his prophecy was indeed realised, because Mrs Clinton won the popular vote, although she still lost the election based on the US system of electoral college votes which saw Trump as winner of the poll.

    A new statement on Mr Joshua’s Facebook page echoes this argument, saying:

    We might have great cathedrals, huge bells, and all kinds of activities that are good by human standards but human point of view is limited.

    1 Corinthians 1:25. The foolishness of God is wiser than that of men and the weakness of God is stronger than that of men. There is no shortcut to spiritual maturity unless earthly understanding gives way to spiritual enlightenment.

    I see many people trying to interpret prophets on the basis of their own minds and ideas. The prophecy seems to cause uproar, to many who gave it different meaning and interpretation.

    Finally, campaigns and elections in any democratic country in the world are never about one person, it is about the country we care and love. Whichever way it happens, we must accept the outcome and then look to the future (God), the Author and Finisher.

    Democracy is all about accommodation. All democrats must value the process of democracy more than the product.

    God bless the United States of America.

    So how should we interpret these comments? Since Mr Joshua is described on his own church’s website as a prophet, is he saying that other people who are not “at the same level” as him and are therefore unable to see what he sees? Or is he saying that none of us as humans cannot hope to truly understand the word of God?

  • Malawi President attacks TB Joshua

    Malawi President attacks TB Joshua

    Malawian President Peter Mutharika yesterday attacked Pastor Temitope Balogun. Joshua of  the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), over an alleged prophecy that he would die before April 1, Malawi state television reported yesterday.

    “I’m told there is a man in Nigeria called Joshua and he is saying that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and Peter Mutharika will die before April 1,” he said, adding: “Let me tell you, Joshua… you will fail. What you did in 2012 will not happen again this year,” the president told a rally in the capital Lilongwe.

    In 2012, Joshua reportedly predicted the death of a president of an unnamed southern African country. Mutharika’s brother, Bingu, who was president at the time, died within the predicted timeframe, giving the prophesy strong currency in Malawi.

    Mutharika did not say when or where Joshua made the latest prophesy.

    In January, Joshua reportedly gave a televised prophecy, telling his congregation to pray for the leaders in southern Africa, saying: “End of February to April this year, peculiar months for Southern Africa.”

    But Mutharika questioned Joshua’s credentials as a prophet, pointing to the collapse of a guesthouse in his sprawling SCOAN in Lagos in September 2014, which left 116 people dead, mostly South Africans.

    “Why did he not foretell this tragedy?

    “This all shows that he is a liar. He just wants to raise money,” said Mutharika, who is in his mid 70s, pledging to be around in 2019 for the next presidential elections, and in also 2024, when — if reelected — he will wrap up his last term.

    Mutharika came to power in 2014 after defeating Joyce Banda.

    Banda, who succeeded Bingu Mutharika, made several visits to the Lagos headquarters of Joshua’s church and once described the evangelist as her ”spiritual father”.

  • TB Joshua and the Synagogue Church tragedy

    TB Joshua and the Synagogue Church tragedy

    THE problem is not simply that a six-floor guesthouse collapsed on the premises of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, as tragic as that was in terms of the human toll and in terms of its spiritual significance. What many see as worrisome in the tragedy is the reaction of the church leadership. Not only did church leaders initially bar rescue agencies from promptly responding to the tragedy as they should and according to the powers conferred on them by law, they also began to assemble a whole architecture of stories and theories about the causes of the collapse. The church response, much more than the mere act of the collapsed building, is certain to drag the church into unnecessary controversy, cause it a lot of pain, lower it in the esteem of the people, and possibly attract some lawsuits.

    Almost certain, too, is that the tragedy, and especially the church response to it, will compel governments everywhere in Nigeria where religious enclaves are located to revisit laws governing the operations of religious settlements. Building regulations are now bound to be more strictly enforced, and governments may be set to look into the books of these enclaves to establish how appropriately they conform to financial rules and regulations. The governments are now less likely to accept the state-within-state idea.

    Above all, given the rather curious theories advanced by Pastor Joshua himself to explain the building collapse, his religious credentials are bound to be more closely scrutinised by a sceptical and cynical public. They will question his doctrine, flinch at his definition and understanding of truth, blanch in horror at his apparent lack of courage in the face of crisis, and warily view his humanity. With about 86 deaths from the building collapse, neither the Synagogue Church nor Pastor Joshua himself will remain the same after this sad incident.

  • The disaster at TB Joshua’s church

    SIR: I have followed the coverage of the ugly event of the collapse of Synagogue Guest-House  and I am shocked that the media appears to have swallowed the ludicrous explanation given by TB Joshua and his team at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).  They are claiming that a six storey building collapsed because a plane circled over it four times and they have even provided CCTV evidence to back up the claim.

    In my opinion, TB Joshua’s media team is trying to manipulate things.

    First of all, if the plane was directly over the building, it would not be so small. The plane was not directly flying over the building. The reason it appeared to be above is because the line of sight is straight.

    Secondly, if the plane was flying directly above the building, the noise would have been deafening.

    Thirdly, the plane that they claim flew over the guest house four times could not have been the same plane. There is no photo evidence of the plane circling the building. They are actually four different planes following the same or similar trajectories.

    Fourthly, has anyone seen the map of Ikotun area of Lagos? If you do, you would notice that Joshua’s church is almost on a parallel line with the trajectory a plane would take to land on the Murtala Mohammed International Airport-MMIA, Ikeja. It is possible that the four planes were just landing at MMIA.

    Someone should visit MMIA and compare the landing times on September 12, with tahe times the four planes flew across the view of the CCTV. I believe the times will coincide.

    TB Joshua should provide us with the building plans of the Guest House and allow for structural tests on the wreckage. This will establish the reason the building collapsed. Members of SCOAN should come clean and apologize to victim’s relations and stop trying to avoid responsibility and culpability.

    • Nehemiah Sokponba

    Medical Store Road Benin-City

  • I was the target of attack, TB Joshua alleges

    I was the target of attack, TB Joshua alleges

    •17 dead, 119 injured

    Head of The Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T B Joshua, yesterday declared that the collapse of a section of the church complex, which occurred Friday afternoon was beyond the allegation of structural defects.

    He said he may indeed have been the target of those behind the dastardly attack on the church.

    Speaking to journalists after a CCTV footage of events leading to the building collapse was shown to journalists at the church premises, yesterday, Joshua said the helicopter, which eyewitness swore was a military helicopter, had earlier begun circling around his prayer ground, where he usually retreats to for spiritual upliftment a few distance from the church location as early as 10am.

    Not paying much attention to it, he said, he left the site and headed for the church complex to freshen up, only to be notified that the plane had also stopped circulating and headed towards the location of the church. Not long after, he said, he also got a security report from his officials that a ‘plane’ was sighted hovering over one of the buildings in the complex.

    He said the ‘plane’ circulated four times before the building suddenly collapsed at exactly 12.44 pm.

    The video footage actually showed the plane hovering above the five-storey building said to be an accommodation facility, first at 11.30, and then four times within three minutes. The helicopter then came back again circled the building again and left. At exactly 12.44 when it looked like it was all over, the building suddenly came down, collapsing all at once.

    According to some officials of the church and eye-witnesses, the building collapse looked very much like chemicalised demolition and may yet be a new dimension in the terror onslaught that the country has found itself.

    Apologising for the hostile treatment said to have been meted out to the media on the day of the incident by church members and security operatives attached to the church, Joshua said the reason he did not make any official statement on Friday was because he did not want to create any panic or an impression that terrorists have invaded Lagos.

    He also said that the video footage was there to corroborate his point, while also declaring that if indeed it was a terrorist attack, the perpetrators are not likely to stop with Friday’s incident.

    Asked to comment on the number of casualties, the prophet simply said ‘rescue mission was still ongoing.’

    One of the church officials, who craved anonymity, however, told this reporter that nearly all the people in the building had been pulled out and that “miraculously, nearly all survived”.

    One of the NEMA officials on site was, however, overheard saying that about 17 deaths had been recorded, with about 119 injured.

  • Onazi retains place in Eagles starting XI

    Onazi retains place in Eagles starting XI

    Lazio youngster Ogenyi Onazi will keep his place in Nigeria starting XI against Mali in Wednesday’s African Nations Cup semi final.

    Onazi was expected to give way for returnee Fengor Ogude who served a one-match suspension in the quarter final duel against Cote d’Ivoire.

    But Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has lined up an unchanged team for the match against the fellow West African nation in Durban.

    The versatile Onazi stood in for Ogude on Sunday to earn praise from Keshi for his energetic display in defensive midfield.

    “Onazi did a wonderful job (vs Cote d’Ivoire),” saluted Keshi.

    He also filled in at right back for suspended Efe Ambrose for a group game against Zambia.

    Onazi told MTNFootball.com he is driven for glory.

    “Well, it is not by my power that I did well against Yaya Toure and (Cheick) Tiote in the midfield, but the special grace of God that gave me the strength to be able to play my game,” he said.

    “Motivation is by the grace of God in my life. Step by step I am achieving my heart desire and my long time dream to not only line up among the best, but to always come out tops. That in itself is a lot of motivation.

    “Don’t also forget that we play for our country knowing the name of our family is at stake. Motivation is never missing when you are a Nigerian.”

    He also told MTNFootball.com that Prophet T.B.Joshua’s prayer has propelled him in South Africa.

    “Prophet T.B Joshua is not only my Father in the Lord, he is also a figure I look up to as well as respect a lot,” he revealed.

    “He has always been praying for me and the team, and he always gives advice which has been the key to my success and that of the team.”