A BBC Africa Eye report has insisted that the late Nigerian televangelist, TB Joshua, faked miracles within his Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN.
BBC in the report stated that it had uncovered a web of deceptive practices allegedly employed by the late Nigerian televangelist to fabricate miracles and listed six ways the late church leader allegedly faked miracles.
BBC Africa reached out to SCOAN with the allegations but received no response, although the church denied previous claims against Joshua.
“Making unfounded allegations against Prophet TB Joshua is not a new occurrence… None of the allegations was ever substantiated,” the church had insisted.
But BBC Africa noted that the investigation, which drew insights from more than 25 insiders across various countries, sheds light on a series of deceptive tactics employed within SCOAN.
The investigation, which was published on BBC Eye Website yesterday, alleged that Joshua, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 57, was a fraud.
It detailed six ways through which TB Joshua allegedly deceived worshippers, noting that these discoveries came from those who worked with the late church leader.
In 2004, Nigeria’s broadcast regulator prohibited the airing of pastors’ supposed miracles on live terrestrial TV, leading Joshua to launch Emmanuel TV on satellite and later online.
His global television and social media network became one of the world’s most successful Christian platforms, broadcasting to millions across Europe, the Americas, South East Asia, and Africa. His YouTube channel garnered hundreds of millions of views.
Below are the ways listed by the BBC Africa Eye in its report:
The emergency department: An exclusive section of the church, named the “emergency department”, was responsible for making the so-called miracles look real.
“This is where the sick, who came to be healed, would be screened, and where the team would decide who should be filmed and prayed for by Joshua.
“Agomoh Paul, who supervised the department for 10 years – receiving direct instructions from Joshua, told the BBC that the team was “trained by medical doctors”.
“He is a former disciple – one of an elite group of dedicated followers who lived with the pastor inside the Scoan compound.
“Any cancerous situation, they send them away. Then, people who had normal open wounds that can heal, they bring them in, to present as cancer,” he says.