TB Joshua
Temitope Balogun Joshua was a Nigerian charismatic pastor and televangelist. He was the leader and founder of Synagogue Church of All Nations, a Christian megachurch that runs the Emmanuel TV television station from Lagos, Nigeria.
Joshua was widely known across Africa and Latin America and had a large social media presence with over six million fans on Facebook. His YouTube channel, Emmanuel TV, had over one million subscribers and was the most-viewed Christian ministry on the platform before the channel was suspended by YouTube in 2021 for alleged homophobic hate speech. Joshua was described by media outlets as the "Oprah of Evangelism" and "YouTube's most popular pastor".
Joshua was awarded various accolades, notably receiving the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic by the Nigerian government in 2008 and being voted the Yoruba man of the decade by Pan-Yoruba media outlet Irohin-Odua. He was called one of Africa's 50 most influential people by Pan-African magazines The Africa Report and New African Magazine. By 2011, according to Forbes, Joshua was Nigeria's third-richest pastor, although the claim was immediately denied in a statement by the church.
Joshua was a prominent public figure throughout his life, known for both his religious outreach and humanitarian works, as well as controversies, including being blacklisted by the government of Cameroon in 2010. He died on 5 June 2021 after one of his evening services in Lagos, Nigeria, just one week prior to his 58th birthday. A BBC investigation in 2024 reported various abuses by Joshua and the Church.
Early life and work
Joshua was born on 12 June 1963, as Temitope Balogun Joshua. Joshua's home town was Arigidi Akoko, Ondo State. He claimed that miracles accompanied his birth, and that he spent 15 months in his mother's womb. He claimed that his birth had been "prophesied" a century earlier.Born into poverty, Joshua's Yoruba family included both Muslims and Christians. He grew up with a Muslim uncle after his father, a Christian, died. According to SCOAN, the church he founded, he attended the St. Stephen's Anglican Primary School in Arigidi Akoko, Nigeria, between 1971 and 1977. After a year of secondary school education, he left to work on a poultry farm.
In school, he was known as "small pastor" because of his love for the Bible. Joshua attempted to join the Nigerian military but was thwarted due to a train breakdown that left him stranded en route to the military academy.
Formation of Synagogue Church of All Nations
Joshua wrote that in a heavenly vision he had received divine anointing and a covenant from God to start his ministry. Following this, Joshua founded the ministry organisation known as Synagogue, Church of All Nations. According to the organisation, more than 15,000 members attend its weekly Sunday service; visitors from outside Nigeria are accommodated in the accommodation blocks constructed at the church.The Guardian reported that SCOAN attracts more weekly attendees than the combined number of visitors to Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. SCOAN's popular services have also resulted in an enormous boost for local businesses and hoteliers.
Although Joshua's videos were distributed worldwide, gaining a large social media presence, the church has only one branch, in Ghana. Joshua said in 2014 that it was "not yet time" for him to have branches worldwide.
SCOAN has been described as "Nigeria's biggest tourist attraction" and "the most visited destination by religious tourists in West Africa," with thousands of foreigners flocking to attend the church's weekly services. Figures released by the Nigerian Immigration Service indicated that six out of every ten foreigners entering Nigeria are bound for SCOAN, a fact discussed in Zimbabwean parliament when addressing the economic potentials of religious tourism.
This Day newspaper reported that "about two million local and inbound tourists" visit SCOAN annually. The church's popularity has led to an increase in flight routes to Lagos from several African countries in 2013. Joshua's contribution to Nigeria's religious tourism was highlighted when the cleric hinted at the possibility of relocating his ministry to Israel during a Sunday service. Several prominent Nigerians opposed the relocation, urging Joshua to remain in the country, and citing the economic setbacks Nigeria would likely experience as a result of his potential relocation.
Foreign visits
Joshua travelled to Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Paraguay to hold what he called "crusades." He also visited Israel to receive a humanitarian award from ZAKA and to visit biblical sites. Joshua's "Miracle Crusade" in Cali, Colombia in July 2014 was allegedly attended by 100,000 people and held in the Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero. He travelled to the iconic Estadio Azteca in Mexico, and was allegedly visited by 200,000 people over two days in May 2015.Joshua's two-day visit to Estadio Monumental "U" in Lima, Peru, attracted nearly 100,000 in September 2016, making headlines in local Peruvian media. In August 2017, Joshua held a Crusade in Paraguay at Estadio Defensores del Chaco. His visit caused a media storm when the Paraguayan parliament approved that the cleric be awarded the National Order of Merit, the country's highest honour, which is usually reserved only for Paraguayan citizens. Testimonies from those who alleged they were healed through Joshua's prayers at the crusade made headlines in local media.
In June 2019, Joshua held a two-day event at the Amphitheatre of Mount Precipice in Nazareth, Israel, the historic hometown of Jesus Christ. The event was the subject of intense media scrutiny. Local religious officials told their followers to boycott the event and several small protests were held calling for the event's cancellation. An estimated 15,000 people travelled from over 50 nations to attend the event, significantly boosting local tourism.
Humanitarian work
There is a rehabilitation programme for militants from Nigeria's volatile Niger Delta region, repentant armed robbers and sex workers who came to the church for 'deliverance'.In 2009, Joshua provided two electrical transformers to a local community after theirs was burned beyond repair. He also donated over N26m to help restore electricity and put an end to over two years of power outage in four councils in the Akoko area of Ondo State in 2017. The cleric made donations to police forces in Nigeria, and Ghana.
SCOAN has a 'scholarship program' which caters for the academic needs of students in their thousands, ranging from primary to tertiary education. In 2012, Joshua sponsored a Nigerian student doing a PhD in Oxford University, with Nigerian media reporting she received £100,000 from the church. He also gave a scholarship to a young Motswana to study at Harvard Law School in America.
After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Joshua sent a team of medical personnel and humanitarian workers to the affected area, establishing a field hospital called 'Clinique Emmanuel'.
The 'Emmanuel TV Team' assisted victims of the earthquake that struck the nation of Ecuador in April 2016, providing over $500,000 worth of humanitarian aid.
Joshua funded the building and running of a school in Lahore, Pakistan named 'Emmanuel School'. He also rebuilt a school in a rural area destroyed by the 2016 Ecuador earthquake, travelling to Ecuador for the opening of the school in June 2017.
Several groups of Nigerians attempting illegal travel to Europe through Libya have been supported at SCOAN following their deportation from the North African nation with only the clothes on their backs. Stories of the harsh conditions they encountered and Joshua's subsequent assistance made headlines in several local newspapers.
In 2009, Joshua started a football club, My People FC, as part of efforts to help the youth. Two members of the team played for Nigeria's Golden Eaglets in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Sani Emmanuel, who apparently lived in SCOAN for several years, was Nigeria's top-scorer and the tournament's MVP. Emmanuel and his colleague Ogenyi Onazi signed professional contracts with SS Lazio, Onazi a key player for the Nigerian Senior Team, the Super Eagles.
WBO International Light Middleweight boxing champion King Davidson Emenogu said that Joshua has financially supported him throughout his career and purportedly prophesied that he would be a world boxing champion.
Joshua was involved in the meeting of the family of the late president of Liberia, Samuel Doe, with the former warlord Prince Yormie Johnson who was responsible for Doe's death. During this meeting the family publicly forgave Johnson who said it was through Joshua's prayers that he stopped drinking alcohol and turned to Christianity.
The cleric also played a prominent role in reconciling broken homes and restoring families torn apart by false accusations.
In recognition of his humanitarian activities, he was awarded a National Honour by the Nigerian government in 2008 as well as receiving a letter of appreciation from the United Nations. He was further honoured as an Ambassador of Peace by the Arewa Youth Forum, a predominantly Muslim organisation, as well as being recognised with an 'award of excellence' by ZAKA, Israel's primary rescue and recovery voluntary service.
Influence in African politics
A BBC Africa journalist once suggested that Joshua was "the most powerful man in Africa" due to his alleged influence in the African political sphere.Days after John Atta Mills became President of Ghana in 2009, he visited Joshua's church for a thanksgiving service, and claimed that Joshua had "prophesied" his ascension to power and specific details relating to his narrow victory over Nana Akufo-Addo. Joshua was a regular visitor to Ghana during Mills' early presidency and allegedly organised "prayer warriors" praying in Osu Castle.
Joshua's supposed "prophecy" concerning the death of Malawian President Bingu Mutharika garnered media attention and was subsequently the subject of a Malawian government inquiry; Mutharika's successor, Joyce Banda, was also a devotee of the cleric. Banda claimed Joshua's prayers healed her husband after he suffered a stroke and regularly visited Joshua in Nigeria while she was Head of State.
Joshua played the role of a peacemaker in the aftermath of the Tanzanian elections in 2015, visiting the country to meet and hold reconciliatory talks with President John Magufuli – a member of his church – and opposition leader Edward Lowassa. Commentators acknowledged his visit significantly reduced tensions in the country after the elections which the opposition party alleged were fraught with irregularities.
Joshua was a key influence in former Liberian warlord Senator Prince Yormie Johnson's decision to endorse the candidacy of George Weah for president in the 2017 Liberian elections. His endorsement came days after the two were spotted publicly together in SCOAN, a visit that caused a media storm in Liberia. Weah's main opponent and former vice president, Joseph Boakai, also allegedly requested to visit Joshua in light of the elections.
In November 2019, Joshua visited South Sudan, where he met President Salva Kiir Mayardit. He led Mayardit and his cabinet in prayers for peace at the nation's Presidential Palace in Juba and called on leaders to overcome their differences in a message broadcast on South Sudan's state television. Some South Sudanese believed that Joshua had given a "prophecy" of the subsequent unity government formed in February 2020 between Mayardit and rival leader Riek Machar.