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This is the BBC. This podcast is supported by advertising outside the UK. Hey, it's Nora McInerney, host of The Head Start Embracing the Journey. This is season two. And if you're new here, these are real conversations with real people living with chronic migraine. This is a show that creates a little more space for empathy and understanding around asking questions and asking for help.
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BBC News with Jonathan Izard. A rescue operation is underway in the Nigerian city of Lagos... Friday, 12th September 2014. A day that focuses the world's attention on the Synagogue Church of All Nations.
You're looking at pictures from just a few hours ago. Part of the synagogue church of all nations collapsed. More than 100 people are trapped under a collapsed building inside TB Joshua's compound. Ray and Annika watch the scene unfold on the news from England in horror. I immediately thought about all my friends that were there and I thought, oh my word, who is in that rubble?
At this time, Annika didn't know Ray had left. Is Ray in that rubble? Is all my other friends in that rubble? I felt scared. The rubble was that of a six-storey concrete structure built for people who came to the church to be healed. There's been no official confirmation of casualties, but there are reports of dead bodies being... There's something disconcerting watching the footage of this, because it's not the emergency services pulling people out. It's members of TB Joshua's church.
Even in this moment of disaster, TB Joshua refuses to let outsiders in. He doesn't want the world to know what's happening there. He wants to keep control. This is World of Secrets, Season 2, The Disciples. A BBC World Service investigation. With me, Charlie Northcote. And me, Yemi Siadigoke. Episode 8, Collapse. Collapse.
We've heard how TB Joshua exerted psychological control over the disciples like Ray and Annika. He was about to exercise information control and disinformation on a staggering scale. In Johannesburg airport, 23-year-old Princess is making her first journey to the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos.
She was looking forward to start a career, start a life, move out of the house. She loved people so much. She loved helping people. Princess's mum, Sunny, is saying goodbye. For protection, her daughter asks her to spray TB Joshua's anointing water over her. They're a close family, united in part by their faith. So this was a big trip. It was her first trip to synagogue.
Princess always checked in with her mum. And like clockwork, she calls her when she arrives at the church in Lagos. Princess tells Sunny how exciting it is to meet the disciples. She jokes about how some of them confused her for her mum, who had visited before. Early the next morning...
Sunny's phone rings again, but this time it isn't Princess. Sunny gets a call from a friend. When she called me, she said, ah, where are you? I said, no, I'm home. And then she called, oh, thank you, Jesus. I said, why are you saying that? She said, ah, I thought you went to that church of yours. Her friend is watching the news. They said the building collapsed and seven people died today. And I dismiss her because...
That was not in his nature when you look at him. He would never put people in danger. Around 9, 10, she called again. Sonny, the number is increasing. Now I took the phone. I tried to call the agency that my daughter used to go to Nigeria. And when I called them, I asked them, I just heard that there's an incident that happened in Nigeria. And I just want to find out where's my child because I'm trying to call her. Her phone is off.
The only answer that I got from them, they just said, just pray. I remember I prayed, waiting for a phone call that they would say something. As long as she's alive, she's brave. Because she had life. She had prepared the Lord for her life. I made sure that they go to church according to the Bible. I never said my children go to the party, go to the disco. No, no. I was with my children all the time.
Except that time. The moment it happened, I was close to his office. Like Sonny, Emmanuel remembers the minutes and hours of Friday the 12th of September, 2014. Emmanuel, a fifth story brother and disciple, was inside TB Joshua's office when he heard a massive bang. He saw dust creeping in through the windows. One of the disciples ran.
He said, the building, the building, the building. I now had to run down. I went outside. So normally, there's a distance I would stand. I'm supposed to be seeing the six-story building. It was just open air. It was like a dream to me. Instinctively, Emmanuel wanted to help. So he rushed to the collapsed building, to what was now rubble. When I was on top of the rubble, I was hearing the sound of people saying,
Soon, at the perimeter of TB Joshua's compound...
tensions were rising. Footage recorded by the Associated Press shows ambulances outside the gates of the church and scuffles as people jostle to get in and out. It looks chaotic, desperate. TB Joshua blocked the site immediately. He was trying to hide how brutal it was. Even the emergency units, they never allowed them to come in at first. So because of that, there were critical cases where people...
We are trapped. It was soon clear to Emmanuel that there were a large number of visitors in the building when it went down. It was a guest house built especially for them. It was lunchtime. All the visitors were eating on the long communal tables in the dining room. But Emmanuel wasn't sent to the guest house to save the visitors. He was sent on behalf of TB Joshua, who didn't visit. The little thing that he is...
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, come and take your camera. The man of God needs to see what is happening here. Timberlake just sent me and my other colleagues to go down there to be taking footages of the scenes that were there. People's reactions. He needed people's reactions. We are just using the camera to give him information on what is happening there because he never came there. As a cameraman, I got a lot of scenes.
Because when I entered that hole, my God, horrific scene. One of the first things Emmanuel saw was a South African visitor pinned down by the falling debris. It was down to other members of the church to rescue him. They were contemplating what to do. So they came to a summary that the only way is to chop off the leg. So they told the guy, because I was there, they told him that we are going to cut your leg off so that you will be free.
You guys say anything, because he's in pain. Anything, just do it. They have a chainsaw that they use in Ispria Mountain. They brought it, they turned it on, and they used it to cut the leg. Emmanuel says that any survivors were then pulled from the rubble and paraded in front of the media. What the church was doing is pulling out people, showing to the camera that they are saving people. Then the people that are inside that are dead died.
They asked them not to bring them out. What Emmanuel's saying is really serious, that TB Joshua initially prevented the emergency services from entering the compound. And as a result, people died unnecessarily. Then he says there was an attempt to hide the true number of deaths from the media. They hid the dead bodies. Yes, not to bring them out. They hid the dead bodies. So when it was 8.30 to 9pm, that was when the real work was done.
All the hands, the legs, the heads, scattered bodies. Oh my God. They made sure that they removed all the bodies they could touch because the media people will come the next day and they will not be able to get hold of any casualties. After days of praying and frantically trying to get information out of the church, Sunny finally heard back. The news was delivered to her home with a knock on the front door.
It was a group of people from the church. They arrived at my house on Wednesday. It was after five days. They said, we are sent by TB Joshua, OK, yes? We are afraid your daughter did not make it. That's what they told us. Her daughter, Princess, was in the building when it went down. My daughter died in the place where I thought it's safe, in the church. I raised my children according to the word of God.
Because the Bible said, bring your child in the way of the Lord. I made sure that they were always in church. I didn't know that I was taking them to church to be killed. Most of the victims were South Africans. Princess was among 85 worshippers from South Africa to die in the collapse. In total, officially at least, 116 people died.
Most were crushed or suffocated. Emmanuel, who was there on the day, claims it's higher, that many Nigerian bodies were not counted. I knew many electricians, many workers. I knew many workers that were under-built. But I never saw a gain till I left there. So you think the death toll is higher? Yes. The death toll is higher than the number given by the
Because they were Nigerians. Because they were Nigerians that were not accounted. They didn't even put their name on the list. The relatives left behind were grieving and searching for answers. Answers TB Joshua could provide. There was all over the world. Let me start from Friday morning. His answer, when he spoke at a Sunday service a few days later, was unexpected. I received a phone call that there was a jet here at the church.
A plane, TB Joshua explained, had passed over the building four times, flying low, shortly before the collapse. To back up the theory that a plane had something to do with the collapse...
TB Joshua then played a video for people to watch. September 12, 2014. Journalist Solomon Ashams was watching closely. He came up with the whole concept of why the building collapsed. A building at the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapses after a strange aircraft flies low multiple times over it before disappearing. How could you even say that?
He was trying to deflate the story into totally a different direction. This is the enlarged view of the photograph taken. It reveals the close proximity... Instead of sympathising with the victims, you're now trying to spin the story to make it look like you were not at fault totally. And that's the typical TB Joshua. In South Africa, this bizarre explanation was little comfort to Sonny. I think he took us as fools, as stupid...
And while she and dozens of other families were grieving, they still wanted answers. I just wanted the truth. And that's when it started. Repeated visits from the church's disciples. Sikle was one of those sent by TB Joshua to meet the families of the victims. The instruction was I needed to...
in going around to these families within South Africa whose children, husbands or wives had died at the building. Officially, her task was to send them a message of condolence, to assure them that their loved ones had died as martyrs. And unofficially, to give them bundles of South African rand.
We would give families about 50, ranging between 50,000 and 100,000. Back then, that would have been roughly $5,000 to $10,000. Basically, we were silencing them.
We would tell them at the end of it all to say, Daddy is going to take care of them. He would make sure everything is done. They mustn't speak to media. They mustn't give reports on anything. Some of these families would accept this money. We would give family cash. Remember, cash cuts off the paper trail. I mean, this is blood money really, isn't it? Yeah. And while Sikho was working hard in South Africa to keep the families quiet, TB Joshua was readying himself for an important guest.
This was someone from inside the church, who remembers the preparations that would happen for this very special guest. They've asked to remain anonymous. Very close, yes. Their words have been read by a BBC producer, Georgia. President of Nigeria. Yes, he would always come. Jonathan would always come there at night, 2am or 3am. He would always come. And do what? To see him, just to see him.
They'd have private meetings, then he would go. Did you hear anything they spoke about on the phone or in person? No, normally he would call and they would just pass the phone and say, call Good Luck Jonathan, and he'd just dial the number. So they're on first-name terms? Yes, very close, yes. TB Joshua's relationship with Nigeria's most powerful man, President Good Luck Jonathan, was about to be put to the test. The president's helicopter touched down on the grounds of the synagogue church.
Waiting to receive him, Prophet TB Joshua. Journalist Adjuan Shayinka also remembers watching the president arrive at the scene. The message that sent was that the pastor was a victim of that building collapse. My personal condolences in that of the federal government to the church.
The prophet, the founder of the church, and especially to the bereaved families. Visiting him to sympathize with him. The president later left the site for a brief closed-door meeting with Prophet T.B. Joshua. And that he was supposed to attract our sympathy for essentially putting up a structure that killed people. After the meeting, the president made his way to the helicopter.
And Adejuan says it meant authorities were less likely to hold TB Joshua responsible. Sensing this was a good time to get an interview, journalists swapped on the prophet. He scolded his personal guards for trying to shield him from the journalists, but he declined the interview. You've sent a message to the investigators saying,
We approached Nigeria's former president, Goodluck Jonathan, through his foundation to ask him about his relationship with TB Joshua. He did not reply.
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In July 2015, 10 months after the collapse, a coroner concluded that it was caused by structural failure. That it was built without planning permission. And that the church should be investigated.
In 2015, a year after it happened, TB Joshua was summoned to come and appear in court. He never showed up. Journalist Solomon Ashoms again. You think you're powerful, you want to build what you want to build. If the government say no, here you can only build three storey, you can go ahead and build five or ten storey. You're powerful. If somebody tries to say anything, give them money, they keep quiet.
And that's how TB Joshua operated. No arrest was made. His attorneys tried to always look for postponement. No statement was given. And that went on for years. There was another case of a building collapse in Lagos, of a home, apartment. The owner of that building was arrested immediately. But TB Joshua, it was a different story. He's an untouchable.
Back in South Africa, Sunny and the other bereaved families were still waiting for answers from TB Joshua. Initially, she took some of the cash he was offering and says she gave it away, buying food for her neighbours. But it wasn't just money he was offering. Soon, she would be invited to Lagos too.
Instead... Why was he giving the money? What was it for? I just wanted the truth.
I think around 2018, he started giving us the 50,000. I refused the 50,000. 2019, he gave again 50,000. I refused the 50,000. And he said he'll collect all the money that I didn't take all these years and then he will deposit into my account. When I refused to do that, somebody from the office called me again and said, TV Chasers said I must give you double the money.
But Sunny insisted she wouldn't take it. By now, she believed this was just an attempt to buy her silence. And together with other families in South Africa, they lodged a lawsuit against TB Joshua in Nigeria. Then the phone calls started. It was ringing and ringing and I could hear the voice say, don't touch this phone, don't touch this phone. One, two. She still has the screenshot of all the missed calls. He called you 13 times? Yes.
Eventually, Sonny decided she couldn't keep ignoring the calls. So one day, she picked up, instinctively, not trusting him anymore. She pressed record. In the recording, you can hear that TB Joshua is rattled. He sounds nervous.
And he keeps on asking Sonny to take the money.
TB Joshua also sent sunny messages, including this one. I am your man of God who loves you so much. Whatever life brings, you are not alone. I am with you in Jesus' name. Amen. That's what he said. The pain is too much. How do you explain to your loved one that somebody who was going to church has died in the church?
Please, I ask justice for my daughter. Do something. Because people all over the world come to that place and you know exactly what is happening. You can't deny it anymore. You might think that the deaths of Princess and more than 100 others would also mean the death of the Synagogue Church of All Nations. In the name of Jesus! But it hasn't. Every knee, Jabba!
Neither TB Joshua nor his church has ever been successfully prosecuted for the building collapse. At least 116 people died in this compound, but to this day, people keep visiting. Meanwhile, Sunny and the other relatives continue their quest for justice. This fight is not only about me. It's about everyone all over the world who is following this man because TB Joshua is not a man of God. Next time...
We search for TB Joshua's daughter. Ajoke was telling people what she noticed. It was like she was the only one inside who understood what was happening there. She stood up to her father inside that compound. Ajoke was bold enough to confront in front of his disciples. She was brave. For a long time, church insiders feared for her life. Some people feel she was dead.
And some other people feel they don't know where she is. So she's just missing. Emmanuel believes TB Joshua's daughter, Adjokere, has been living in fear after confronting her dad. We don't know anything about her situation right now. She's been missing, lost, and we're trying to find her. We don't know where she's living. We don't know who she's with. We don't know why she doesn't have a phone. We don't know how she got from Ghana to here. And now, for the first time...
TB Joshua's daughter is ready to speak. Oh my God, she's here. She's here. Oh my God. And she wants the world to know the truth about her dad. It's crazy how much she looks like him. It's like tripping me up. We approach the Synagogue Church of All Nations with the allegations made in this series.
They did not offer a response or address any of the claims directly, but in an earlier email told us that making unfounded allegations against Prophet TB Joshua is not a new occurrence. None of the allegations was ever substantiated. Thanks for listening to World of Secrets, Season 2, The Disciples, from the BBC World Service. This is Episode 8 of 9.
This season of World of Secrets is produced by BBC Audio Documentaries and is presented by me, Yemi Siadigoke, and Charlie Northcott. It's been made in collaboration with BBC Africa Eye, with original investigation by Charlie Northcott and Helen Spooner. Thank you to everyone around the world who spoke to us and shared their stories for this investigation.
We want as many people as possible to hear their stories, so please do tell others about World of Secrets. And where you can do, rate and leave a review. We'd be really grateful and it really does help. This season of World of Secrets is produced by BBC Audio Documentaries. The producer is Rob Byrne. The executive producer is Georgia Catt.
The series editor is Philip Sellers. At the BBC World Service, the senior podcast producer is Lee Trung. And the podcast commissioning editor is John Manel. Thank you again for listening.
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