Nigeria’s disgraced televangelist TB Joshua

Before his death in 2021 at the age of 57, TB Joshua was one of Africa’s most influential televangelists.

The Christian preacher attracted followers from all over the world by claiming to perform miracles, like curing blindness and HIV.

However, an investigation by the BBC has uncovered more than a decade of allegations of rape and torture by him inside his compound in Lagos.

Joshua amassed great wealth throughout his career, possessing a fleet of cars and travelling via private jet.

But his beginnings were far more humble. Born Temitope Balogun Joshua to a poor family on 12 June 1963, he was raised by a Muslim uncle after his Christian father died.

One of the claims he made was that he had been in his mother’s womb for 15 months.

He also said that during his early days, he experienced a three-day trance in which he was called to serve God.

“I am your God. I am giving you a divine commission to go and carry out the work of the heavenly father,” Joshua declared.

It was then that he started the Synagogue, Church of All Nations (Scoan), with eight members.

Joshua and Scoan rose to prominence in the late 1990s, amid an explosion of “miracle” programmes performed by pastors on Nigerian TV.

Tens of thousands of followers from Nigeria and around the world would regularly attend his services in Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, in an attempt to be healed and hear the preacher’s “prophecies”.

Joshua also took his ministry on tour, visiting other African countries, the UK, US, and nations in South America.