Uche
A three-part BBC investigative documentary has shown how the late Nigerian Pastor, Temitope Balogun Joshua,known as TB Joshua, repeatedly beat and tortured his daughter, Ajoke.
In the documentary, TB Joshua’s disciples alleged that Ajoke was obtained outside of legitimate marriage and subjected to a succession of torture and humiliation by the late cleric, who saw her existence as a major threat to his reputation as a man of God.
Ajoke claimed that she never felt fatherly affection from the late pastor and that her father compelled her to be a disciple to ruin her life.
She said, “It was very difficult to watch this man preach every Sunday. Topics about love and about mercy. They feel very strange coming from his lips. I stared myself in the mirror lots of times, so maybe I didn’t look like him. Maybe. For as long as I can remember, I had been raised as TB Joshua’s daughter.”
“That kind of pain cannot be put into words. I feel like, you know, maybe I really don’t deserve to be alive. We are talking about years and years of abuse, consistent abuse, abuse that wasn’t ending,” she said.
She added that other disciples also joined her father to compound the humiliation.
She said, “The disciples were both brainwashed and enablers. Everybody was just acting based on commands like zombies. Nobody was questioning beyond fanatics. Where does your conscience come? How far can your conscience go without some form of accountability?”
“I knew the child, Ajoke, right from birth. She’s his actual daughter. His biological daughter from another woman outside of wedlock,” one of the disciples also gave his remark on Ajoke’s relationship with TB Joshua.
“Ajoke grew inside the Synagogue like an outcast. I think he wanted to keep her secret. I don’t think he wanted anyone to know who she was. The message about Ajoke was that she had terrible evil spirits that needed to be driven out,” another female disciple revealed.
“He hated her, and he punished her for being born. Her existence was probably the biggest threat to his reputation. What’s her fault? What has that girl done? It pains me she was still very young that time. Can you imagine how heartless we were?” the disciple added.
The allegations of torture in a hidden Nigerian complex date back nearly 30 years. More than 25 former members from the UK, Nigeria, the United States, South Africa, Ghana, Namibia, and Germany testified to the BBC, providing remarkable corroborating testimony about their experiences within the church from three decades ago to 2019. The British victims were all between the ages of 15 and 21, when they joined the religion. Multiple BBC interviewees equated their experiences to similar being in a cult.
When TB Joshua died in June 2021, he was regarded as one of the most important preachers in African history. Rising from poverty in Nigeria in the 1990s, he developed an evangelical empire across the globe, and counted scores of government figures, celebrities, and international footballers.
The BBC said it contacted the current leadership of the Synagogue Church of All Nations with the allegations in this film. They replied: “Making unfounded allegations against Prophet TB Joshua is not a new occurrence.”
“None of the allegations was ever substantiated,” the leadership was quoted as saying.
They did not respond to the details of the allegations, the BBC said.
Davidd
