Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister, has made startling revelations about the controversial building incident that took place at the church founded by Prophet TB Joshua in Lagos, Nigeria, in September 2014, which left 115 dead, mostly South Africans.
In an audacious article titled, ‘Murder In The Church’, the outspoken politician described the incident, saying, “One of the single greatest atrocities perpetuated by rogue elements in our intelligence agencies in modern history was the blowing up of a guest house in Prophet T.B. Joshua’s church”.
Fani-Kayode added that those behind this ‘attack’ “were the same people that covertly and cleverly spun the tale that the building collapsed as a result of a weak foundation and fed that pernicious lie to a gullible and easily manipulated Nigerian media”.
He further explained that Joshua’s spiritual activities and prophecies had unnerved those in high places within the government of former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The motive for the attack was to silence and discredit Joshua who, by that time, had become a thorn in the flesh of many within the corridors of power, simply because he was exposing the deepest secrets about what was going on in the country and those who were covertly working against former President Goodluck Jonathan.”
The lawyer then revealed how, through intense research, he had unearthed a prophecy the cleric purportedly gave to Jonathan concerning the then upcoming Nigerian elections.
“He went as far as to prophesy and predict everything that would happen in the 2015 election which was scheduled to hold two years later, with great accuracy, if President Goodluck Jonathan did not remove certain people (whose names were mentioned) within his government and inner circle. The counsel was put on record and when I was doing my research for this write up I actually read the transcripts of this interesting discourse and I was utterly amazed at the accuracy of his predictions.”
Fani-Kayode alleged the use of sophisticated weaponry to bring down the ill-fated building, insisting that“certain members of our intelligence agencies used a large remote-controlled drone to fly over the building and then activated an explosive device which had been planted in the building days earlier”.
The fiery politician even compared the incident to the history-defining terror attacks that struck America on September 11th 2001.
“This was Nigeria’s own 911 but unlike the real 911, the victims were never properly celebrated or mourned and the perpetrators were never identified or brought to justice.”
Fani-Kayode opined that the Lagos State Government made Joshua a scapegoat in order to distract attention from the real cause of the ‘attack’.
“Instead of digging deep and patiently trying to establish the relevant facts and setting in motion a forensic-based and professional investigation, the security agencies looked for a scapegoat, turned on the man of God, made him the subject of a criminal investigation and claimed that the building collapsed because it had weak foundations and because it had not been properly built.”
He then described the ongoing court case involving the engineers who constructed the building and trustees of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) as a means to “discredit, disgrace, shame and utterly destroy” Joshua.
“With this, they had managed to divert attention away from the real cause of the collapse of the building, they had found an easy and convenient scapegoat and consequently the real perpetrators managed to escape any form of suspicion or scrutiny.”
The former Minister revealed that after announcing his investigation into the incident, he received the largest “number of threats from known and unknown sources” in his entire career, vowing that he would not be deterred in exposing the truth.
Promising to reveal more in a subsequent write-up including naming the individuals involved, the revelations have sparked even further debate as to what actually transpired that fateful day of September 12th 2014.
Ihechukwu Njoku is a freelance Nigerian journalist who writes about the Synagogue Church of All Nations.
