Until his passing in 2021 at the age of 57, TB Joshua stood as one of Africa's most influential televangelists. This Christian preacher garnered a global following by asserting the ability to perform miracles, including claims of curing blindness and HIV.
However, a BBC investigation has brought to light over a decade of allegations of rape and torture against him within his compound in Lagos.
Throughout his career, Joshua accumulated substantial wealth, evidenced by a fleet of cars and his mode of travel, which often involved a private jet.
However, his origins were considerably more modest. Temitope Balogun Joshua, born on 12 June 1963, came into the world to a poor family. Following the death of his Christian father, he was brought up by a Muslim uncle.
Among the assertions he made was that he had spent an extraordinary 15 months in his mother's womb. Additionally, he recounted an early life experience of a three-day trance during which he felt a divine calling 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.
During that time, he initiated the Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN), beginning with a modest group of eight members.
In the late 1990s, Joshua and SCOAN gained prominence, riding the wave of a surge in "miracle" programs conducted by pastors featured on Nigerian television.
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 expanded his ministry globally, embarking on tours that included visits to other African nations, the UK, the US, and countries in South America.
Illustrating his significant influence, during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West African countries, the Lagos state government sought the assistance of Joshua to help mitigate the spread of the disease.
Authorities requested Joshua to advise infected followers in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, the most severely affected countries, not to travel to his Lagos church for healing.
In response, he agreed to temporarily halt some of the church's healing programs. However, reports suggest that he also sent 4,000 bottles of "anointing water" to Sierra Leone, falsely asserting that they could cure the disease.
The demand for Joshua's anointing water was consistently high. In 2013, a surge for the bottles at his church in Ghana resulted in a stampede, causing the tragic death of four individuals.
Criticism was directed towards the preacher after the incident, although Ghanaian police mentioned the difficulty of assigning blame.
In a more tragic event the following year, one of Joshua's churches in Lagos collapsed, resulting in the deaths of at least 116 people.
Despite a Lagos court's coroner indicating that "the church was culpable because of criminal negligence," the preacher never faced charges.
Despite attracting thousands to his churches, Joshua perennially grappled with gaining acceptance from his peers.
Ostracised by both the Christian Association of Nigeria (Can) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), he was described as an "impostor" who belonged to a group of "occults" that had infiltrated Christianity.
"He was rough. He was crude. His methods were unorthodox," Abimbola Adelakun, assistant professor in the African Studies Department at the University of Texas, told the BBC in 2021.
The expansion of the internet and social media played a pivotal role in disseminating his message, but it also brought to light growing opposition to Joshua and other affluent mega-church pastors.
Certain critics scrutinized Joshua, revered as "the prophet" by his followers, for asserting predictions about various events, ranging from the death of Michael Jackson to the disappearance of Malaysian plane MH370 in 2014.
Before Jackson's death in 2009, TB Joshua told his congregation : "In his own area he is famous. He is known everywhere. Great. Too great. Because I see something will begin to happen to that star and that will likely end in him to pack his load and go to the journey of no return but I don't know when that journey [is]."
Six months later, Joshua cited the star's unexpected death as evidence of his purported ability to foresee the future.
Despite these extravagant assertions, Joshua boasted a substantial following among high-profile figures. Notable personalities such as South African politician Julius Malema, Malawi's former President Joyce Banda, the late Morgan Tsvangirai, a long-time Zimbabwe opposition leader, and the former president of Ghana, the late John Atta Mills, paid tribute to Joshua during his lifetime.
Worshippers from the Nigerian Pentecostal church Salvation Ministries participate in the 5th Sunday service at their church headquarters in Port Harcourt, southern Nigeria, on February 24, 2019.
Referred to as "the prophet" by his followers, Joshua's career soared when he started preaching on Emmanuel TV, a television station operated by SCOAN. The station not only served as a platform for his sermons but also broadcasted testimonials from individuals who claimed their lives had been positively transformed through the preacher's ministry.
These testimonies encompassed narratives of financial prosperity, seemingly miraculous recoveries from illnesses, and even accounts of individuals purportedly being revived from the dead.
Joshua was also renowned for his philanthropic endeavors, earning him the prestigious Order of the Federal Republic from Nigeria's former president, the late Umaru Yar'Adua, one of the country's highest honors.
Upon the preacher's demise, the cause of which was never disclosed, mourners journeyed from various parts of the world to Lagos for his burial service. Following his passing, his wife, Evelyn Joshua, assumed leadership of the church, and they shared three children.
However, that once-praised legacy now stands in ruins.
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