…as wife takes over ‘business’ empire
After three months of denials that there is no struggle over who succeeds late Prophet T.B Joshua, the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) is witnessing what has been described as ecclesiastic rumbles.
The face-off, apparently between Joshua’s widow, Pastor Evelyn, and some disciples of the demised televangelist, has already landed one of the prophet’s disciples simply identified as Yinka in the nets of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for alleged financial impropriety.
A reliable source within the SCOAN, who broke the news to our correspondent, disclosed that some of the late prophet’s disciples and evangelists were chased out of the SCOAN at 11 midnight on Thursday, following a decision of the church’s Trustees.
The source told our correspondent that some internal changes are about to take place, adding that the purge will also affect some of the foreign disciples and evangelists, many of whom had free rein while T B Joshua was alive.
Another source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said “All the disciple evangelist and confussionists within the church’s hierarchy will be chased out of the SCOAN to give the church leadership a new lease of life.” According to him, the current purge is the first stage, like a can of worms just being opened.
He said: “I am aware of some progressive internal changes about to take place. This may raise some dust because every significant change comes with some inconvenience just like a pregnant woman going into labor.”
The development came on the heels of a recent court judgment secured by some SCOAN members, which made Pastor Evelyn Joshua a member of the Church’s Trustee. The Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division, which sat at Ikoyi under Justice Tijjani Ringim gave the judgment appointing Mrs. Evelyn Joshua as a trustee of SCOAN, in line with the church’s constitution which prescribes a minimum of three trustees for the church.
This was sequel to a petition by concerned and committed members of the church represented by Mr. Kola Kareem and Mrs. Moji Oguntoyinbo against the Incorporated Trustees of SCOAN; the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and Mrs. Evelyn Onyisi Joshua in a Suit No: FHC/L/CP/1109/2021.
We were reliably told that the reconstituted Board of Trustees met a few hours after the judgment was obtained, and elected Evelyn Joshua as the Chairperson of the church board. Further investigation revealed that the appointment placed Mrs. Joshua in a firmer position to re-organise and give the SCOAN a new direction where the church would no longer operate as a one-man ministry.
A close staff of Mrs. Joshua (name withheld), disclosed that Pastor Evelyn desires to run a church where the fourfold ministry would be fully operational, “but there is a clique among the disciples who have been helping themselves with church funds and making the church operate in a kind of secrecy.
“Pastor Evelyn is rather interested in giving every gifted disciple a chance to serve freely, demystifying the secrecy image ascribed to the church and allowing the church to have good relationships with other churches in the country.
“But the point of contention is that the clique wants the old order where they discourage accountability, preventing people from having free access to the late T B Joshua to continue so that they can corner the church’s funds and assets to themselves,” the source said.
According to the source, five disciples including Yinka, who is assisting the EFCC with investigations, had earlier been fingered for alleged financial improprieties.
