By: Femi Fani-Kayode<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago I tweeted that I would write an essay about the bombing of
\na building at Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua’s Synagogue Church Of All
\nNations (SCOAN).<\/p>\n
Though I have been writing essays and contributing to the public discourse
\nfor over 27 years, I have never received the number of threats from known
\nand unknown sources as I did after that tweet.<\/p>\n
Yet I am not deterred. As a matter of fact such threats always strenghen
\nmy resolve to stand firm, do the right thing and dig even deeper.<\/p>\n
I am a servant of truth and the voice of the voiceless: I cannot be
\nintimidated and I will not be silenced.<\/p>\n
Part of my calling is to speak truth to power, to stand up for the
\noppressed and to speak up for the victims of barbarity, persecution,
\nwickedness and injustice and I will not shy away from\u00a0 doing so on this
\noccassion.<\/p>\n
Prophet TB Joshua started his ministry 30 years ago in 1987 when he
\nfounded his Church. He is a strong and credible voice in the Body of
\nChrist in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
He is a respected and much-loved Christian leader who is doing great works
\nand wonders for the Kingdom of God both in and outside of our country. He
\nis reverred in many nations in the world, including numerous countries in
\nSouth America, South East Asia, Africa, Europe, the far East, Israel,
\nLebanon, India and the United States of America where he is a regular
\nvisitor that is welcomed and received with much love and enthuisiasm.<\/p>\n
Such is his following that it is on record that out of every 10 foreigners
\nthat visit Nigeria every year, 6 of them have come to spend time in T.B.
\nJoshua’s Church and receive ministration from him.<\/p>\n
Yet despite all these laudable achievements it is clear that he has many
\nenemies.<\/p>\n
I am not a member of his Church, I have never worshipped there and neither
\ndo I have any reason to defend him or to speak up for him other than the
\nfact that, in my humble opinion, in this particular case and matter, he
\nand his Church members are undoubtedly the primary targets and victims of
\ninjustice, wickedness and what can only be described as nothing less than
\npre-meditated and cold-blooded mass murder.<\/p>\n
They are also the subjects of one of the greatest cover-ups in Nigerian
\nhistory and of a massive and well-orchestrated disinformation campaign.<\/p>\n
It says a lot for him, his resilience, his ministry, his calling, his
\nmembers and the enormous amount of strength and grace that he enjoys from
\nthe Living God that, despite the sheer hell that he has been put through
\nas a consequence of these ugly events and tragic affair, he has refused to
\nbe broken or silenced.<\/p>\n
Rather than capitulate he has risen to the occasion, gone from strength to
\nstrength, stoically accepted the numerous challenges that he has been
\nfaced with and stood firm in the preaching of the gospel and in the battle
\nagainst the Kingdom of darkness.<\/p>\n
He has also refused to be cowed and instead has stood-by, comforted and
\nassisted the families of those who lost their loved ones in this brutal
\nattack as best as he could.<\/p>\n
The truth is that whether his detractors wish to admit it or not, T.B.
\nJoshua has weathered the storm well and he remains one of the most
\nrespected and celebrated Pastors and men of God in Nigeria today and
\ncertainly one of the most internationally-acknowledged and acclaimed of
\nthem all.<\/p>\n
The truth is that there is nothing that is ordinary about this man. It
\nappears that the more his haters (and there are many of them in Nigeria)
\nthrow bricks at him and seek his downfall, the more he grows, prospers and
\nincreases. Only God can do this for any human being.<\/p>\n
Like those that are healed of numerous ailments by the Holy Spirit in his
\nChurch, his strength and survival and his uncanny readiness and ability to
\ncontinue to spread love and charity to the poor, the weak, the challenged,
\nthe despised and the helpless all over the world, regardless of his own
\npersonal challenges, is not only exemplary but also borders on the
\nmiraculous.<\/p>\n
The truth is that if the events that I am about to describe had happened
\nto ANY other person or man of God in this country I am not sure that they
\nwould have been able to survive it.<\/p>\n
To all intents and purposes Joshua is a mystery. He is a modern-day enigma.<\/p>\n
He is a profoundly good man whose humility is second to none, who is
\ndeeply courageous and who is filled with the light and power of the Spirit
\nof God.<\/p>\n
Yet his towering status, his selfless ministry and his good works is
\nhardly the point here. If what he was subjected to three years ago had
\nhappened to anyone else and if the details were brought to my attention I
\nwould have written about it and exposed it in exactly the same way that I
\nam about to do now.<\/p>\n
Today I present the first and second parts of this essay. I have almost
\nfinished part three, which is the most telling of them all and, once done,
\nI will release it after those whose names that I have mentioned have been
\nduly consulted and informed.<\/p>\n
Here I have written what I believe is the truth. I have risked my life and
\nthe life of my sources by doing so but I have no regrets.<\/p>\n
It is for us to do as we are led by the Holy Spirit and it is for God to
\nprotect us. I leave all to Him and I give Him the glory.<\/p>\n
Here we go.<\/p>\n
One of the single greatest atrocities perpetuated by rogue elements in our
\nintelligence agencies in modern history was the blowing up of a guest
\nhouse in Prophet TB Joshua’s church which resulted in the death of
\napproximately 116 people, most of whom were foreigners. This took place on
\nSeptember 12th 2014.<\/p>\n
The perpertrators of this utterly barbaric act were the same people that
\ncovertly and cleverly spun the tale that the building collapsed as a
\nresult of a weak foundation and fed that pernicious lie to a gullible and
\neasily manipulated Nigerian media.<\/p>\n
As trusting as ever, the Nigerian people bought this hideous mendacity
\nlock, stock and barrel whilst many prominent clerics and Church leaders
\nwho were envious of Joshua’s rising profile, power and popularity revelled
\nin the lie and helped to preach, spread, perpetuate and consolodate it.<\/p>\n
They argued that the building was built without the relevant permits and
\nconveniently overlooked the fact that, according to my sources at Alausa,
\nLagos state, between 60 and 70 percent of buildings in the environs and
\nsuburbs of Lagos state either never had a building permit in the first
\nplace, procured one only after the relevant building was constructed or
\nhave fake ones which were procured through bribes.<\/p>\n
That being the case it seems strange that far many more buildings have not
\ncollapsed in Lagos if the assumption is that they ALL have weak
\nfoundations.<\/p>\n
The “weak foundation as a consequence of no building permit theory”
\nappears to me to be implausible. In my view it lacks credibility and it is
\nin fact a false and fake narrative.<\/p>\n
This was not the cause of the tragedy and the real cause was far more
\nsinister and macabre than that.<\/p>\n
The motive for the attack was to silence and discredit Joshua who, by that
\ntime, had become a thorn in the flesh of many within the corridors of
\npower simply because he was exposing the deepest secrets about what was
\ngoing on in the country and those who were covertly working against former
\nPresident Goodluck Jonathan.<\/p>\n
He went as far as to prophesy and predict everything that would happen in The counsel was put on record and when I was doing my research for this The attack involved the use of certain members of our intelligence There is a video on Youtube of the drone hovering at very close range over After the third time the entire building collapsed like a pack of cards. Sadly many people were killed and even more were badly injured. This was The whole thing appears to have been covered up and those in high places The trauma that the families that lost their loved ones suffered, most of Even greater and more pronuonced was the pain, anguish and deep sense of Such was the outrage from members of the public in Lagos as a result of And this is where things went badly wrong. In a typical Nigerian manner, They ignored all the evidence that suggested that there was far more to They then proceeded to initiate criminal proceedings against Joshua and With this they had managed to divert attention away from the real cause of By: Femi Fani-Kayode A few weeks ago I tweeted that I would write an essay about the bombing of a building at Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua’s Synagogue Church Of All…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions","category-columns","category-femi-fani-kayode"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nthe 2015\u00a0 election which was scheduled to hold two years later<\/span><\/span>, with great
\naccuracy, if President Goodluck Jonathan did not remove certain people
\n(whose names were mentioned) within his government and inner circle.<\/p>\n
\nwrite up I actually read the transcripts of this interesting discourse and
\nI was utterly amazed at the accuracy of his predictions.<\/p>\n
\nagencies who used a large remote-controlled drone to fly over the building
\nand who then activated an explosive device which had been planted in the
\nbuilding days earlier with the drone.<\/p>\n
\nthe building three times just before it collapsed. I urge readers to look
\nfor it and view it.<\/p>\n
\nThis was AFTER a loud explosion, which was clearly heard by many of the
\nsurvivors within and outside of the building, shattered the tranquility,
\npeace and silence of the structure and blew out its foundations.<\/p>\n
\nNigeria’s own 911 but unlike the real 911 the victims were never properly
\ncelebrated or mourned and the perpertrators were never identified or
\nbrought to justice.<\/p>\n
\nin the intelligence agencies at the time, having discovered that this was
\nyet another rogue operation by a group of fifth columnists within the
\nsecurity apparatus who were keen on silencing the Presidents friends and
\nwho wanted to use the operation to embarass and terrify their perceived
\nenemies and adversaries, decided to brush the whole thing under the carpet
\nand keep it quiet.<\/p>\n
\nwhom were South Americans, Europeans, white South Africans and other
\nforeigners was harrowing and unimaginable and the outrage that was
\nexpressed by the Nigerian public as a consequence of it was, rightly,
\nunprecedented.<\/p>\n
\nloss of Prophet TB Joshua himself and members of his SCOAN Church who were
\nutterly devastated by this horrendous and tragic event, this inexplicable
\nslaughter and this frightful and unexpected loss of the lives of their
\nfriends, colleagues, loved ones and Church members.<\/p>\n
\nthe matter that the Federal and State Governments felt that they had to
\nact fast in order to manage the fall-out from the whole ugly episode.<\/p>\n
\ninstead of digging deep and patiently trying to establish the relevant
\nfacts and setting in motion a forensic-based and professional
\ninvestigation, the security agencies looked for a scapegoat, turned on the
\nman of God, made him the subject of a criminal investigation and claimed
\nthat the building collapsed because it had weak foundations and because it
\nhad not been properly built.<\/p>\n
\nthe matter than that and instead sold this unlikely and utterly absurd
\nnarrative and dummy to the Nigerian people and the international
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
\nsome of his Church members and sought to discredit, disgrace, shame and
\nutterly destroy him.<\/p>\n
\nthe collapse of the building, they had found an easy and convenient
\nscapegoat and consequently the real perpertrators managed to escape any
\nform of suspicion or scrutiny. (TO BE CONCLUDED).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"