BBC has uncovered evidence of widespread abuse and torture by the late founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos State, Temitope Joshua, popularly known as TB Joshua.
TB Joshua, who was born in 1963, died on June 5, 2021, a week before his 58th birthday.
The cause of his death was not disclosed.
However, BBC, in its report, said dozens of ex-SCOAN members – five British – alleged atrocities, including rape and forced abortions, by TB Joshua.
The media organisation said the allegations of abuse in a secretive Lagos compound span almost 20 years.
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
According to the media firm, one of the victims, a British woman, Rae, was 21 years old when she abandoned her degree at Brighton University in 2002 and was recruited into the church.
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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 said.
Rae said 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.
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, said 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 said.
Other interviewees said they were stripped and beaten with electrical cables and horse whips, and routinely denied sleep.
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.
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.
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The BBC said it 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,” the church wrote.
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”.
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