That late Prophet T.B Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has been going through leadership and succession crises is an established fact.

A member of the Board of Trustees, Joseph David has now raised alarm over alleged threats to his life.

He said; “The ministry had disciples, who handled the operation, administration and spiritual affairs of the church. Among them were five prophets, who were always with Prophet TB Joshua.”

“The prophet’s wife was never active in the administration of the church. She only functioned ceremoniously, maybe to receive awards for him.”

“Before the prophet passed on, he was interviewed by a newspaper, where he answered the question of succession. He said the church is not a family thing, and that was why his wife was not always seen with him.”

“Around the period he granted the interview, he had removed her from being a trustee of the church. But she did not know she had been removed until he died.”

“After TB Joshua’s death, the church had two trustees left – the cleric’s daughter, Promise Joshua and myself.”

“Trouble started during a meeting to fill the space left by the late cleric, who was the third trustee of the church.”

“Two family members – the prophet’s first daughter and his wife – were suggested by a group, I kicked against it to avoid being easily overrun and removed by the family members.”

“I suggested that if the duo would join, then more non-family members should be added to make for balance of power, the idea was rejected by the family and the meeting ended without a resolution.”

“From that point, there was mutual suspicion between the family and the group of disciples led by me.”

“The suspicion is fuelled by the fear of the family that we are in possession of things that the family did not know about.”

“Actually, immediately the man of God passed on, the wife started investigating us and our accounts. We don’t take salaries, and we are not exposed to any issue of money.”

“But due to suspicion, she took over the administration of the ministry. All the workers started reporting to her.”

“For the 27 years that I was in that ministry, she never handled any matter of administration. But she started making people turn their backs on the disciples, saying we are thieves and robbers. As a result, church workers started refusing instructions.”

“Our movement was restricted; our personal freedom was infringed on. We could not shout because we thought this was a family issue and we could bear it.”

“A man was later asked to mediate between the disciples and the family, the intervention did not work out.”

“My group later decided to concede to the family and allow TB Joshua’s wife take over the running of the church.”

“The disciples were shocked when I reached out to the mediator and we were told that the situation had reached a gunpowder status.”

“He said for us to avoid the disaster that was coming, all of us as disciples must come together and sign an undertaking to declare Mrs Evelyn Joshua as the new GO of the church and we must sign an undertaking to be of good behaviour.”

“And we should forward all that to him and maybe he would ‘unwalk’ the situation to avoid the trouble that was coming. We saw this as a threat, and we did not know how to respond to his message.”

“The matter reached a climax on September 9, 2021 when the family invited some church members and declared Evelyn as the chairman of the board of trustees and general overseer after obtaining a court order.”

“Security agents went to the Prayer Mountain and dragged out some of the disciples after taking their phones, some workers in the church were also taken to the gallery.”

“That evening, all the Nigerian evangelists of TB Joshua, some of whom had stayed with the prophet for 28 to 29 years, the least is 20 years, were sent out.”

“But before then, their second daughter, Promise, came with letters from the EFCC and distributed to them before they left.”

“Most of the prophets, both Nigerian and foreign, she accused them of theft, fraud and money laundering. After she removed the Nigerians, she threatened the foreign ones that they should go back to their countries. Madam said she did not want any discipleship again.”

“Before the events of that day, Promise had written to the Nigeria Immigration Service to demand that the residency status of the foreigners be reviewed because their services were no longer needed.”

“When I was informed about the call, I went to Abuja to stop the process because the foreigners are still useful.”

“The EFCC had since launched a search for me and others. Our lives are under threat.”

“As we are talking now, we are hiding in a hotel. The EFCC came and we were warned that they were looking for us and we should stay in our rooms. Unfortunately, one of our sisters walked into them and they took her away, despite the fact that we had a restraining order.”

“The question is, ‘Why is this woman using the arms of the law to intimidate innocent people?’ The charges at the EFCC against us are completely baseless because we are not in the position to launder money or steal; cash does not go through us. Those who work in the accounts have explained the procedure to her, but she is not listening.”

“Now, she has gained control over everything and she is still chasing us. We have tried to sympathise with the family, but we also want the world to hear our side of the story.”

– Source: Punchng