By Miracle Ogunde
Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka has explained how he urged the Lagos state government to put the late founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Pastor Temitope Balogun Joshua, famously known as TB Joshua, on trial.
Soyinka, urged Nigerians to leave the BBC alone following its damning report about the late prophet.
The nobel laureate who was the Guest Speaker, at the PUNCH 50th Anniversary Public Lecture on Recovering The Narrative, said he discussed TB Joshua with the then-Governor of Lagos, who had plans to put the cleric on trial.
He said, “Considering religion-saturated environment here, perhaps the nearest expression for description is that creativity is akin to the phenomenon of spiritual possession. Oh! that brings me to the recent hullabaloo occasioned by a BBC documentary on the religious enterprise rampaging across our dear nation.”
“I took some time to study that man, TB Joshua while he was still alive.
“I discussed him with the then-Governor of Lagos, who had plans to tell them to put him on trial. But then he took off and I think he ended up in Latin America, which is beginning to rival Nigeria for miracles and wonders, and packed theatre on stage, on television for people in possession and being cursed, and vomiting snakes and…all other kinds of illicit aspects of Nigerian spirituality. Leave BBC alone,” he said
Joshua, who founded the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), died on June 5, 2021.
The BBC in January 2024 published a 3-part investigative documentary detailing the atrocities and sexual crimes committed by the cleric.
Leave a Reply