[ 2015-07-27 ]

Where Is TB Joshua?
Nigerian ‘Prophet’ T.B. Joshua’s prolonged
public absence is not only raising concerns among
his followers but severely damaging local business
in the area where his church is situated.


The last time Joshua was seen in public was nearly
three months ago at a ‘Miracle Crusade’ in
Mexico City, allegedly attended by over 150,000
worshippers.

However, since his return to Nigeria, the cleric
has uncharacteristically not appeared in any
church service at The Synagogue, Church Of All
Nations (SCOAN), all of which are broadcast live
on Christian television channel ‘Emmanuel TV’.


On June 7th 2015, Joshua released a statement via
Facebook, stating, “I came back from the revival
trip last week Saturday, waiting for God’s
command on what to do next. I can’t wait to join
you.”

However, almost two months down the line, which
has seen the controversial conclusion of a
coroner’s inquest into the tragic building
collapse of a guesthouse within his church last
year, there’s been nothing but silence.

Last Sunday 26th July made it 12 consecutive weeks
of absence.

It’s the first time in over 25 years of ministry
that T.B. Joshua has missed a church service,
barring foreign ministration and his arrest and 2
week incarceration by the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over charges of
drug-dealing in 1996, which were later dropped.

A report by Nigeria’s Sunday Guardian newspaper
chronicled the economic effects Joshua’s
‘disappearance’, coupled with the reduction in
church services since the building collapse last
year, has had on the local environment.

“If you come here on Sunday, you will find that
a lot of shops are closed. There’s no more
business,” a shop owner on the street close to
the church lamented to The Guardian reporter, the
welfare of most businesses in the area connected
to the church’s fortunes.

“If you go there now (Ikotun-Egbe) and see the
market, you will realise how bad things have
become. If it were before, at this time, you would
be seeing many people, foreigners, coming and
going… Even those hotels - the workers are
crying because people don’t come there
again.”

“I think all you newsmen should come together
and talk to this man and see what is happening,”
a Nigerian cab operator angrily told The Guardian.


“Programs have totally stopped. Foreigners
don’t even see him on TV live. If they just see
him on TV in the Sunday services, they will come.
A lot of them bought their tickets. But there has
been no prayer line,” he continued.

“We are just waiting and praying to God to make
him restart the programs. The bitter fact is that
there is nothing that can be done to stimulate
business in this area. Without foreigners coming
and injecting their resources, there is nothing,
virtually nothing else to fall back on.”

A Muslim fabric trader in the region, Mrs Eyitayo,
however, stated that the evolving events were
‘retribution’ for the selfish antics of local
house owners who evicted many tenants in order to
cash in the church’s popularity by converting
their houses to hotels.

“The man (T.B. Joshua) is doing good but some
people are doing bad because of the money they are
seeing. When you drive tenants out, and they
don’t have anywhere to go, some of them will cry
to God. This thing that has happened will let them
know that there is God.”

Eyitayo reminisced the time she regularly ordered
new clothes from Dubai when visitors, especially
foreigners, streamed en masse to the area to
worship at the church.

“Two years ago, if you came here, you would
think you were overseas because we traded in
dollars,” she stated, bemoaning the regions
recent drop in fortunes.

Engr. K. Y. Aminu, owner of Kaywy Lodge, a hotel
along Segun-Irefin Street near The SCOAN, admitted
that his customers were currently paying
half-price.

“Business is zero,” he lamented. “I am
partially closing down. The 10 rooms here are
undergoing conversion,” he explained, adding
that he was forced to reduce his staff due to
inability to pay their wages.

According to The Guardian report, even
international airlines are feeling the impact, as
one of Nigeria’s foremost tourist destinations
is passing through an uncannily ‘dry’ phase.

Joshua’s supporters believe the pastor is in a
period of ‘fasting and prayer’ but the call
for him to reappear is certainly heightening,
evidenced by various petitions on the cleric’s
Facebook page.

“I know that when he eventually steps out, it
will be with an explosion of prophetic fire,” a
shop owner near the church in Lagos optimistically
told the Guardian reporter, hoping that Joshua’s
eventual re-emergence will revive the waning local
economy.

Source - Ihechukwu Njoku

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