After the BBC released a contentious documentary about Pastor Temitope Joshua, the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Debo Akinyemi, a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, reflects on his experiences working with the late pastor in an article published by ChurchTimes Nigeria.
As someone who closely interacted with TB Joshua during my tenure as a journalist, albeit briefly, I find it imperative to contribute to the ongoing discourse surrounding the recent BBC expose on him.
The debate surrounding the BBC documentary reveals a clear division of opinions on whether Pastor Joshua was indeed a sincere man of God, with arguments both in favor of and against his authenticity.
Let me submit that from my personal view he was neither here nor there. It was difficult to place him because of his almost perfect outward posturing and inner suspicious conduct. Those who judged TB by his looks and humility fail to draw from the biblical saying that outward appearance could be deceptive.
I first set my eyes on him in the late 90s when he was still an itinerant white garment prophet. He used to visit Today’s Choice, the soft-sell magazine where I worked as the Sports Editor.
His points men then were our editor Osa Irabor and News Editor, Jide Oshokoya. The purpose of his frequent visits then was to curry publicity for the small things he was doing then as an upcoming church owner.
But later our paths crossed again. And this time he had become a big brand, even if controversial. One of my friends had informed me of a vacancy in The Exclusive, a quaint weekly Newspaper he was publishing. Initially, I didn’t know TB Joshua had anything to do with the paper because his name never appeared in the list of management and board members.
But when I discovered that he not only owned the paper but also had almost a choke hold on the management of the paper, I became scared and wanted to turn down the appointment given to me as the deputy editor of the paper.
I had to go and seek counsel from my provincial pastor who encouraged me to take up the appointment and do my job with as much professional detachment as possible. It did not take long after joining the paper when I began to notice very disturbing developments.
