Faith
BBC’s detailed investigation exposes sins of TB Joshua and Synagogue Church
Dozens of ex-Synagogue Church of all Nations members – five British – allege atrocities, including rape and forced abortions, by Nigeria’s late TB Joshua.
The allegations of abuse in a secretive Lagos compound span almost 20 years.
The Synagogue Church of All Nations did not respond to the allegations but said previous claims have been unfounded.
TB Joshua, who died in 2021, was a charismatic and hugely successful preacher and televangelist who had an immense global following.
The BBC’s findings over a two-year investigation include:
- Dozens of eyewitness accounts of physical violence or torture carried out by Joshua, including instances of child abuse and people being whipped and chained
- Numerous women who say they were sexually assaulted by Joshua, with a number claiming they were repeatedly raped for years inside the compound
- Multiple allegations of forced abortions inside the church following the alleged rapes by Joshua, including one woman who says she had five terminations
- Multiple first-hand accounts detailing how Joshua faked his “miracle healings”, which were broadcast to millions of people around the world
One of the victims, a British woman, called Rae, was 21 years old when she abandoned her degree at Brighton University in 2002 and was recruited into the church. She spent the next 12 years as one of Joshua’s so-called “disciples” inside his maze-like concrete compound in Lagos.
“We all thought we were in heaven, but we were in hell, and in hell terrible things happen,” she told the BBC.
Rae says she was sexually assaulted by Joshua and subjected to a form of solitary confinement for two years. The abuse was so severe, she says she attempted suicide multiple times inside the compound.
The Synagogue Church of All Nations [Scoan] has a global following, operating a Christian TV channel called Emmanuel TV and social media networks with millions of viewers. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, tens of thousands of pilgrims from Europe, the Americas, South East Asia and Africa travelled to the church in Nigeria to witness Joshua performing “healing miracles”. At least 150 visitors lived with him as disciples inside his compound in Lagos, sometimes for decades.
More than 25 former “disciples” spoke to the BBC – from the UK, Nigeria, US, South Africa, Ghana, Namibia and Germany – giving powerful corroborating testimony about their experiences within the church, with the most recent experiences in 2019. Many victims were in their teens when they first joined. In some of the British cases, their transport to Lagos was paid for by Joshua, in co-ordination with other UK churches.
Rae and multiple other interviewees compared their experiences to being in a cult.
Jessica Kaimu, from Namibia, says her ordeal lasted more than five years. She says she was 17 when Joshua first raped her, and that subsequent instances of rape by TB Joshua led to her having five forced abortions while there.
“These were backdoor type… medical treatments that we were going through… it could have killed us,” she told the BBC.
Other interviewees say they were stripped and beaten with electrical cables and horse whips, and routinely denied sleep.
On his death in June 2021, TB Joshua was hailed as one of the most influential pastors in African history. Rising from poverty, he built an evangelical empire that counted dozens of political leaders, celebrities and international footballers among his associates.
He did, however, attract some controversy during his lifetime when a guesthouse for church pilgrims collapsed in 2014, killing at least 116 people.
The BBC’s investigation, which was carried out with international media platform Open Democracy, is the first time multiple former church insiders have come forward to speak on the record. They say they’ve spent years trying to raise the alarm, but have effectively been silenced.
A number of our witnesses in Nigeria claim they were physically attacked, and in one case shot at, after previously speaking out against the abuse and posting videos containing allegations on YouTube.
A BBC crew that attempted to record footage of the church’s Lagos compound from a public street in March 2022 was also fired at by the church’s security, and was detained for a number of hours.
The BBC contacted Scoan with the allegations in our investigation. It did not respond to them, but denied previous claims against TB Joshua.
“Making unfounded allegations against Prophet TB Joshua is not a new occurrence… None of the allegations was ever substantiated,” it wrote.
Four of the British citizens who spoke to the BBC say they reported the abuse to the UK authorities after escaping the church. They say no further action was taken.
In addition, a British man and his wife emailed eyewitness accounts of their ordeal and video evidence – including recordings of being held at gunpoint by men describing themselves as police who are also members of Scoan – to the British High Commission in Nigeria in March 2010 after fleeing the church. In his email, the man said his wife had been repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped by Joshua. He warned the commission that other British nationals were still inside the compound facing atrocities.
He also says no action was taken.
The UK Foreign Office did not respond to these claims, but told the BBC that it takes all reports of crime, including sexual assault and violence against British nationals overseas, very seriously.
Scoan continues to thrive today, under the leadership of Joshua’s widow, Evelyn. In July 2023, she led a tour of Spain.
Anneka, who left Derby in the UK to join Scoan at the age of 17, told the BBC she believes there are many other victims who have yet to speak out. She hopes further steps will be taken to uncover Joshua’s actions.
“I believe the Synagogue Church of All Nations needs a thorough investigation into why this man was able to function for so long the way he did,” she said.
BBC
Twelve years after his ministry in Kenya, East African Italian-born Catholic priest Sandro Ferretto has married Sharon Jepng’ok, a Tugen woman from Baringo County.
According to Kenya Times, the couple exchanged vows in a traditional ceremony on 6 September at Seretion Village in Kasiela, a community where Mr Ferretto previously served as parish priest.
The event brought together relatives, local leaders, elders and friends of the bride, who witnessed the Koito ceremony, a significant Kalenjin custom centred on dowry negotiations and family blessings.
Ferretto’s ministry
Mr Ferretto, 55, began his priesthood in Italy before taking his ministry to Kenya, where he spent more than a decade working with local communities.
The Diocese of Padua ordained him as a priest, and he arrived in Kenya in 2008 to begin missionary service. He worked around Kasiela and Mochongoi under the Diocese of Nyahururu and became involved in pastoral outreach, youth programmes and community-based development efforts in Baringo.
He eventually returned to Italy in December 2020 with another missionary, Fr Mariano Dal Ponte.
In 2023, the priest assumed responsibility for a pastoral unit in Saletto, Borgo Veneto, in the Padua diocese. His duties covered eight churches in the area.
His tenure, however, lasted only several months. In December 2023, he celebrated a final Mass before stepping aside from the position to take time for reflection.
The decision reportedly caught some of his colleagues off guard because he gave them little notice.
The Diocese of Padua later acknowledged his withdrawal from pastoral duties, stressing that he continued to serve as a priest and had no connection to any controversy. The diocese described the decision as a requested period away from pastoral ministry.
During his break, Mr Ferretto was reportedly involved in volunteer work with a migrant support group in Padua.
Reunion and law
Mr Ferretto later returned to Kenya and reunited with Ms Jepng’ok, whom he met during his missionary work in Baringo.
Residents of the area widely knew him as “Father Sandro” after he spent more than a decade working with families, youth organisations and church congregations. Baringo is also Ms Jepng’ok’s home region.
Catholic canon law requires Latin Rite priests to observe celibacy and bars them from marrying while they remain in active ministry. The Church considers the commitment a lifelong obligation of the priesthood.
For a priest to marry, he must first be formally removed from the clerical state through a process approved by the Vatican. Known as laicisation, the process ends his status as a priest and normally includes a dispensation from the obligation of celibacy.
Only after receiving the necessary approval can a former priest marry. Without it, the marriage would contravene Catholic canon law and would not be recognised by the Church.
Pastor Titilayo Adewale, the daughter of the late Rev. Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi, the founder of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has firmly denied viral media reports claiming she criticized the church’s leadership or demanded public monuments to preserve her father’s legacy.
The viral post claimed Adewale criticised senior RCCG pastors for allegedly sidelining her late father’s legacy
Adewale described the claims as false and urged those circulating them to stop spreading misinformation.
She debunked the circulating stories and clarified her stance in a statement shared on Facebook page on Monday.
She said the statement attributed to her did not originate from her “either implicitly or explicitly,” stressing that her father’s greatest legacy was not tied to buildings or monuments but the lives he transformed.
“For the record, Baba’s image or lack thereof on any edifice on earth is nothing compared to making Heaven and his face being recognized there,” she wrote.
She explained that her father never encouraged the pursuit of material possessions or earthly recognition, recalling that he was reluctant even to own a personal residence because he did not place value on material acquisitions.
“My father consistently believed in building people rather than merely constructing buildings.
“He never believed in acquiring wealth or earthly possessions,” she said, adding that it would be inconsistent to suggest that he desired his name or image to be prominently associated with buildings or institutions.
According to her, the reports were aimed at creating unnecessary controversy and division within the church rather than promoting the memory of its founder.
“In my opinion, this report and similar ones are not about me, my father, or even the leadership of the RCCG. Instead, they are intended to create unnecessary arguments and division.
“Their purpose is to divert attention from the divine work currently being carried out and sow discord among us,” she stated.
She warned those responsible for circulating the reports to desist from what she described as “mischievous acts of misinformation.
Adewale also reaffirmed her support for the leadership of the church, praying for continued wisdom and strength for the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and his family.
By Gabriel Agbo
Gehazi
We saw how Gehazi, the Elisha’s servant brought the generational curse of leprosy upon himself, his children, and his descendants forever; just because of greed, deception and disloyalty. God had used Prophet Elisha to cure Naaman; an Aramean army general of his leprosy. The soldier with joy and gratitude brought gifts to the man of God; which he rejected. As the general (now a new convert) was going home, promising to serve the God of Israel, the greedy Gehazi ran after him. Gehazi met him and lied to him that his master Elisha sent him to collect some of those gifts he had earlier rejected. He collected and hid them. But as he was coming in, the prophet told him all about his treacherous actions and promptly issued a generational curse upon him.
“Because you have done this, you and your children and your children’s children will suffer from Naaman’s leprosy forever’ When Gehazi left the room, he was leprous; his skin was as white as snow.”
2 kings 5: 27
Gehazi was indeed a treacherous person. Greed pushed him to run after Naaman. When he caught Naaman, he lied with his master’s name and when he was coming back he hid the ill-gotten gifts. As if that was not enough, he again lied to his master, who was asking him where he was coming from. I wonder what he had been learning from the prophet while he was with him. He was indeed deceptive, disloyal and treacherous. For all these, he succeeded in destroying his and his descendants’ destinies forever. Falsehood, deception, disloyalty and betrayal can never go unpunished. Never!
Gibeonites
The Gibeonites also resorted to deception to save themselves from the Israelites and that action eventually turned them and their generations into wood choppers and water carriers. Be careful! See it:
“Joshua did not allow the people of Israel to kill them. But that day he made the Gibeonites the woodchoppers and water carriers for the people of Israel and for the altar of the LORD – wherever the LORD would choose to build it. That arrangement continues to this day.”
Joshua 9:26-27.
Paying Evil for Good
Another treacherous act that brings generational curse upon an individual, family or people is paying evil for good. That is when you deliberately reward somebody who has done well to you with evil. This brings terrible curses not just to the individual, but to their family. The bible said in Proverbs 17:13 that,
“If you repay evil for good, evil will never leave your house.”
That is, you must make sure that you always repay good for good. You must make sure that you don’t betray a person who has favored you. If you do otherwise, the bible says that evil will come to your house, family and make a permanent abode. Some other translations say that it (evil) will remain in your house (family). And house here again means family and you know that anything that has to do with the family has already gone generational; because it will affect the children, children’s children and may go on and on. You must ensure always, without fail that you repay good for good. Even the bible said that we should go beyond that to do well to those who did evil to us. True!
David had this terrible experience from the people he favoured. They paid him evil for good and he consequently asked God to give them their due reward – punishment (curses). Let us read Psalm 35:12-13, “They repay me with evil for the good I do. I am sick with despair. Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them. I even fasted and prayed for them, but my prayers returned unanswered. I was sad, as though they were my friends or family, as if I were grieving for my own mother.”
Then in Psalm 109:1-5,
“O God, whom I praise, don’t stand silent and aloof while the wicked slander me and tell lies about me. They are all around me with their hateful words, and they fight against me for no reason. I love them, but they try to destroy me – even as I am praying for them! They return evil for good, and hatred for my love.”
Like I said earlier, David had a dose of treachery from men. From his son to his friends, his advisers to adversaries. Even King Saul, while David was showing him kindness, he was busy making every possible plan to terminate the young boy’s life out of jealousy. David then called upon God to defend and fight for him. Every victim of treachery makes one form of prayer or the other, even if it is not audible. And most times, it is a call against the treacherous person. A call for justice and God’s defence, and it is always answered. David said, “God don’t stand silent and aloof.” Did God answer him? Yes! Just check out how all his enemies, including the treacherous ones ended. Jesus, Paul, and others also reaffirmed that a betrayer is cursed. In fact, Jesus said that He knew that He was going to be betrayed, but cursed is the man that would allow himself to be used as the instrument; that it would be better he was not born. Treachery will always attract curses upon a person and his next generations.
In the case of Ham, it made them servants. For Gehazi and his descendants, it was leprosy. Gibeonites – woodchoppers and water carriers. And for those who pay evil for good, they and their next generations shall have evil dwelling permanently in their families. Watch the treacherous person and his descendants; it has never been well with them. For whatever a man sows, that he must surely reap. Be careful! Now, you have the opportunity to pray for forgiveness of those treacherous acts of yours, your parents and your family. Bow your head and admit to the Lord that you are sorry for those ungodly acts. Ask him to remove any sin that is against your bloodline. And if you have inherited anything that does not glorify him, ask him to remove it from you, your children and your children’s children. Renew your pledge to His kingdom and government, then stand and guard against the devices of the enemy. We will continue next week. God bless!
Rev Gabriel Agbo is the author of the books / audiobooks: Power of Midnight Prayer, Receive Your Healing, Breaking Generational Curses: Claiming Your Freedom, Never Again!, I Shall Not Die, Move Forward, Power of Sacrifice and many others. Tel: 08037113283 Facebook: Gab Agbo E-mail: gabrielagbo@yahoo.com Website www.authorsden.com/pastorgabrielnagbo Twitter: pastorgabagbo Whatsapp: 08164819333
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