When on 12th of September 2014, a building inside the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapsed and killed “unverified” number of people, the news as usual filtered on to twitter. Before long, figures were dropping from different sources, bloggers and acclaimed eye-witnesses were all having a field day. Some said 17 were dead, others said 20, some said more than 40, but no one was sure, we all waited with bated breath, some of us even wished it was just a rumour or some badly told pranks, until we started seeing pictures online and our fears were confirmed.
But the first reaction of the church to the incident was to try and cover up the news as much as possible. The church members became aggressive, attacking emergency responders, journalists and anyone who had a camera; preventing them from taking pictures or doing their jobs as they should. Lagos state government soon stepped in and State’s emergency workers were given free access to the site. Then the church switched over to their second plan; controlling the narratives, feeding the press with the story of people who walked out miraculously. One freelance journalist named Ihechukwu Njoku was quoted by many bloggers. In his narration, (I didn’t see the original) he focused mainly on the survivors and not the dead. Bloggers quoted him painting the picture of people who were “miraculously” rescued from under the debris; a man in his late 40’s who was asking if he was really in that building when it collapsed, a woman being stretched towards a waiting ambulance and was shouting ‘God of T.B Joshua, thank you’, a child brought out of the wreckage alive and was reunited with her anxious mother, and plenty pictures where people were seeing jubilating and punching the air in excitement because scores of people were rescued from the rubble. All in a bid to show the public that ‘a lot’ of people miraculously survived the collapse, thanks to God of T.B Joshua.
Then the twitter battle started, especially when Lagos state government informed the public that no approval was given to raise the building from its original 2-storey plan to a 5-6 storey which was the current state of the building before its sudden collapse. And as always, one side believed we should not touch the anointed man of God, we should not ask questions or criticize until we know what really happened, forgetting people were dead already, people who had children, who had families, who had loved ones and their only sin in all these was because they chose to attend the Synagogue Church. Four days after, Mr. Jacob Zuma, the South African president announced that 67 of his compatriots lost their lives in the incident; he ordered the concerned government department to help family members identify the bodies of their loved ones and repatriate their remains as soon as possible. But what did the Nigerian government do? Nothing as usual, instead, some bigots were asking us to pray for T.B Joshua.
As at today, the death toll stands at 80 and counting, and I am angry because of the statement that was released earlier today by the church, in which they blamed the incident on a strange aircraft. “…This incident was preceded by the appearance of a strange aircraft which flew very low over the building four times and then disappeared…” and the other parts of the statement which states “…while those who passed on – martyrs of the Kingdom of God – are retrieved, identified and treated respectfully…” When I read this, I lost my temper. WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS? Who and what is a martyr? After blaming some strange aircraft, all what you could do for the victims is to refer to them as martyrs? No name and no Nationality! How are these people even martyrs? Did they willingly suffer death rather than renounce their religion? Were they put to death on behalf of a belief, principle, or a cause? Who made martyr of them? The government, some anti-Christ organization or who? So, because an aircraft was seeing hovering in the sky around the church environment, which by the way is a common sight in Lagos especially when the airport authority has not cleared the aircraft for landing; Synagogue church has concluded that these people were killed because they were serving God, right? I watched the video of the Pastor himself talking to his members, and they were still clapping for him, interjecting his blaspheme with thunderous applause. What is it with Nigerians; do they distribute stupidity free of charge in our churches? Has anyone paused to ask why would the church under the leadership of Pastor T.B Joshua decide to raise the building from a 2-storey building to a 5 or 6-storey without necessary approval? Why is the building raised in the first place? Is Synagogue making money from this building? Are they culpable of being negligent? We won’t ask all these questions, we would just decide not to judge or touch the anointed.
If one random landlord or a random politician (especially the one we don’t like) in Lagos did same thing and his house collapsed, we would be calling for his head right now. But this is T.B Joshua; no architect, no contractor, no builder, no owner will be arrested and called for questioning, we all are supposed to be looking for the strange aircraft because the Man of God said so. How idiotic and gullible can we be as a people? And then some of his church members and other overzealous religious zombies who believe that, men of God are infallible, you cannot criticize them, you cannot say anything against them, and you cannot judge them are jumping to his defence. Nigerians have a culture of turning “Men of God” to semi gods or better still “GOD” himself and even if these men were caught red handed slaughtering human beings, they would still be excused because they are superior to the rest of us. You all remember Revd. King right? Are we breeding another killer in the fold? Let me even ask you, whenever you say “The God of Oyedepo” “The God of T.B Joshua” “The God of Adeboye” “The God of Bakare” “The God of Oritsejafor” and the rest of them. Are you really sure and very convinced you are calling on the same God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob served in their time?
Let me disappoint you while you answer that. You see, these men of God are mere mortals like you and I, if they overfeed on wrong combination of food, they will purge, if they don’t bathe for days, they will smell, and if they strayed into a lion’s cage in any zoo, the lion would have a good lunch; they are not exempted from consequences of their actions or inactions. They are subject to the same laws, spiritual or otherwise governing you and I. So, please quit behaving like spiritual mumu and read your bible if you have one. Christianity does not mean you disengage and evacuate your brain for your Pastor to fill it with sawdust. Be like the Berean Christians, who after being taught, will get home and confirm from the scripture if what they were taught was the right thing or not. So, to SCOAN and their apologists, members and non-members alike, you can tell yourself anything, if it would make you sleep better at night, but those people who died in that building are not ‘MARTYRS OF THE KINGDOM, but they are “VICTIMS OF YOUR RECKLESSNESS” Deal with that!
Chris BAMIDELE 