A public affairs analyst and member of the Synagogue Church of all Nations, Mr Dare Adejumo, on Tuesday, faulted the BBC documentary on the Founder of SCOAN, late Temitope Babatunde Joshua, known as TB Joshua.
He described the documentary as unfounded, noting that the characters interviewed in the report were unknown to the church.
But a former disciple of the prophet, Paul Agomoh, who spoke to the BBC, insisted that the allegations were true, adding that he had to go into hiding for eight years after speaking out as his life was under threat.
The PUNCH reports that No fewer than 25 persons gave eyewitness accounts bordering on allegations of sexual assault, physical abuse, faked miracles and trauma -allegedly suffered in the hands of the late, BBC reports Monday.
However, in a statement he personally signed, Adejumo rubbished the BBC report, saying the media house “descended into fictional narratives and propaganda”.
“BBC has compromised these lofty principles by descending into fictional narratives and propaganda, thus turning itself into a weapon for a hatchet job as gangsters in the gab of journalism with a destructive ulterior motive for personal gains against a perceived enemy.
“Only BBC can best explain why it woefully deviated from true journalism and chose to be dishing junks and feeding the public with stones called bread by its offensive and disenchanted reports of disgruntled elements.
“This, to say the least, is insulting to our professional and public intelligence. One thing is very obvious, hundreds of BBC charades cannot rubbish the indelible footprints of TB Joshua’s legacies on earth again,” Adejumo said.
According to him, thousands of human beings have received dumbfounding miracles and tremendously benefited from the anointing and grace the Lord endued with His servant.
”BBC has obviously shot itself in the foot by its compromise and roadside journalism. Some of those identified there are relics of homosexual and lesbian associates. My findings further show that everything the BBC put together is strange to SCOAN.
“One other clearly illogical thing in the charade is the BBC’s categorical statement that the man of God was involved in all the abuse for over two decades!
”How can that be in a nation governed by law? It shows the station’s crude disrespect and bizarre perception of Nigeria.
“Where were all those shameless interviewees in all the decades? Was it when the man passed on that they suddenly became awake or came back to their senses? Only a fool will have respect for such charlatans.”
According to him, it is obvious that the sponsors of the BBC hatchet job must have been envious of the continued growth of the church like the tree planted by the riverside.
“Thank God your report exonerated his only wife of any wrongdoings throughout the decades of your so-called investigated lopsided work.
“But did you think any wife at all can see and watch all those nonsensical and annoying scenarios you painted for decades and still kept silent? I am yet to read or see such a woman in the universe!
“This is illogical, irritating, incomprehensible, unfathomable, and satanically dubious and malicious.”
Joshua, one of Africa’s most influential religious leaders and richest pastors, had the world at his feet during his lifetime.
He was the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, a 12-storey building, situated in the Ikotun area of Lagos State, where he lived alongside many of his followers.
Joshua was popular for his miracles – which ‘delivered’ people – followers and visitors – of any ailment, ranging from cancer and HIV/AIDS to chronic migraines and blindness.
Meanwhile, one of Joshua’s ex-disciples, Agomoh, said he was the first Prophet under the SCOAN.
“I was the first prophet of the Synagogue church, and I spent more than a decade in the Synagogue between 1995 and 2006. And I just want to thank the BBC. This is a journey I started in 2009. I released a video with Sister Bisola, ‘The Deception of the Age’. When I left there, the incident that led to my leaving is not a story I can finish here. It is a terrible experience. I decided to leave. When I left, I could not sleep, I could not rest. The burden was so much on me. I had to move out with the help of some pastors in ministry, and my friends.
“We brought this out, but a lot of people said ‘Agomoh has come, he is blaspheming against our man of God’. They started chasing me everywhere. For a good eight years, I laid low, not doing any ministerial job, not doing any public jobs. I laid low, just with the help of a few pastors.
“About three years ago, was when I started coming out gradually. I was pursued everywhere, from here to Cotonou, you know these are the nearest places you can run to, from Cotonou to Ghana, back to Lagos, I was running,” he said.