By Olufemi Taiwo, Ebenezer Obadare, Akin Adesokan, Wale Adebanwi, Tejumola Olaniyan
 |
| Mr. Temitope Balogun Joshua, a.k.a “Prophet T.B. Joshua” |
It
is time the authorities in Nigeria did the right thing and arrest Mr. Temitope
Balogun Joshua, the self-styled General Overseer of The Synagogue, Church of
All Nations (SCOAN). Here is why:
On
Friday, September 12, 2014, a guest hostel located within the premises of Mr.
Joshua’s sprawling church at Ikotun-Egbe, Lagos, collapsed. The most recent
media reports put the death toll from the calamity at 115.
So
far, rescuers have pulled out more than a hundred survivors from the rubble.
Because Mr. Joshua’s church has always drawn an international audience, the
continental profile of the list of victims is hardly surprising. For instance,
at least 84 South Africans have been confirmed dead. There are also Nigerians
and citizens of other African (and possible non-African) countries among the
dead.
Mr.
Joshua has done everything humanly possible to cover up the truth about this
tragedy. First, in the first three days after the incident, he illegally barred
officials of the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) from accessing
the site and rescuing survivors.
Second,
while this illegal interdiction was in effect, Mr. Joshua attempted to dictate
the narrative and deflect possible culpability by blaming the incident on a
mysterious ‘small plane’ which had purportedly hovered above his church complex
moments before the collapse. Claiming that he and not his church building was
the target of the alleged attack, he even released an ‘exclusive’ footage of
the ‘strange’ plane.
Third,
as public anger mounted in South Africa, Mr. Joshua declared the dead ‘martyrs
of faith’ and sought to change the subject by promising to ‘take his teachings’
to the country every month for the foreseeable future.
Fourth,
an audio recording has just emerged of Mr. Joshua paying a gathering of
journalists N50, 000 each in exchange for suppressing the truth and privileging
his version of events. The recording, whose authenticity has not been
challenged, was released by Mr. Nicholas Ibekwe, a Premium Times correspondent who was
present at the meeting.
Mr.
Joshua obviously recognizes that the version of events he is seeking to promote
is implausible, hence his latest attempt to manipulate public opinion by
inducing journalists.
He
should not be allowed to get away with it. His entire conduct since the tragic
news broke has been that of a man who feels that he is accountable to no one,
and who is too preoccupied with his image as a ‘man of God’ to worry about the
many victims of this tragic incident, whether injured or dead.
His
attempts to somehow portray a collapse that most probably has to do with
failure to comply with building regulations as a personal attack is an example
of his self-promotion and is nothing short of callous.
Yet,
if Mr. Joshua has comported himself as one above the law, it is precisely
because the Nigerian state has offered him every license. In this wise, neither
President Goodluck Jonathan nor Governor Babatunde Fashola has covered himself
in glory. The president’s visit to the scene of the collapse in which he
commiserated with Mr. Joshua was painful to watch.
Why
would the Nigerian president visit and express solidarity with the leader of a
church who should be a person of interest in an ongoing police investigation?
And is this the same president who does not know the way to Chibok?
Whatever
his motive, President Jonathan strengthened Mr. Joshua’s arm, gave him the
assurance of presidential protection, and threw police investigations in
jeopardy. In the same vein, the cloak and dagger nature of the meeting between
Governor Fashola and Mr. Joshua can only have comforted the latter.
Nigerians
deserve to know what transpired during their meeting, and whatever assurances,
if any, Mr. Fashola gave Mr. Joshua. That said, Mr. Fashola is putting at risk
his own hard-earned reputation for transparency and legality.
Simply
put, should visits have taken place, they should have been to the hospitals
where the injured are being treated and the homes of the deceased. The site
should have been barricaded by the relevant authorities—the police, town
planning, etc.— to secure evidence, given that the presumption ought to be that
even if it is not immediately clear that a crime has been committed, something
definitely has been remiss in the entire tragedy. Getting to the root of the
matter should be the only concern next to solicitations for the welfare of the
survivors.
We
cannot resurrect the dead – we leave that to Mr. Joshua, who claims to have
such powers – but it is a duty we owe to their memory that the truth of this
matter is not buried with them.
Therefore,
it is important that the police and other investigative agencies be given the
necessary backing (both financial and moral) in order to carry out their
duties. Mr. Joshua is a person of interest, not for his callousness, but for
his cynical and persistent attempts to obliterate the truth and pervert the
course of justice.
The
police should arrest him. Today. At a minimum, he should be declared a person
of interest regarding a crime scene and be invited for a ‘chat’.
Signed:
Olufemi
Taiwo, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Ebenezer
Obadare, University of Kansas, Lawrence
Akin
Adesokan, Indiana University, Bloomington
Wale
Adebanwi, University of California, Davis
Tejumola
Olaniyan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison
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