Tributes galore for Lagos televangelist TB Joshua

Nigerian preacher TB Joshua, one of Africa’s most influential evangelists, has died at the age of 57.

A post on his Facebook page, which has more than five million followers, said: “God has taken His servant”.

He was said to have died on Saturday shortly after conducting a live broadcast, but the cause of his death has not been made public.

Tens of thousands would attend his services, with top politicians from across Africa among his followers. But his teachings and practices were also controversial.

In April, YouTube suspended his account due to allegations of hate speech after a rights body filed a complaint over videos showing the preacher conducting prayers to “cure” gay people.

Facebook also removed at least one post showing a woman being slapped while TB Joshua said he was casting out a “demonic spirit”.

Tributes have been pouring in on social media for the preacher, widely referred to as Prophet TB Joshua by his followers.

Popular televangelist

Temitope Balogun Joshua was the founder of the Synagogue, Church of All Nations. He was one of Nigeria’s most popular televangelists but was perhaps the least flamboyant of his peers.

Tens of thousands of people have attended his weekly services in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos. His rise to prominence in the late 1990s coincided with the explosion of “miracle” programmes performed on national TV by various pastors.

TB Joshua was often mocked for lacking the finesse of his colleagues during “deliverance” sessions - an intense prayer that resembles exorcism.

His ministry professed to heal all manner of illnesses, including HIV/Aids and attracted people from all over the world.

Known as the “Prophet” by his followers, he ran the Christian television station Emmanuel TV and often toured Africa, the US, the UK and South America.

In 2014, one of his churches collapsed, killing at least 116 people, including many South Africans.

A coroner in a Lagos court said “the church was culpable because of criminal negligence”, but he never faced any charges. From a country littered with burgeoning churches, TB Joshua, as he was known, was one of the biggest exports of Nigerian charismatic Christianity.

Prophet Joshua was born to a poor family on June 12, 1963, claiming to have been in his mother’s womb for 15 months.

Later in life he claims to have seen a vision in which popular biblical figures commissioned him to preach and perform miracles. It was then that he started The Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN), with eight members.

Like other popular Nigerian preachers or “men of God”, TB Joshua was wealthy, influential and highly revered for the office he held.

Commissioned to preach

People came from around the world to the SCOAN headquarters in the Ikotun district in Lagos to seek healing and to witness prophecies.

When the Ebola outbreak began in West Africa, the Lagos State government, recognising the vast reach and influence of this preacher, asked that no victims of the disease be brought to the church for healing so that there was no threat to other members of the congregation. He agreed to suspend some of the church’s healing programmes but he is said to have sent 4,000 bottles of “anointing water” to Sierra Leone that he said could cure the disease. - BBC