No fewer than 5, 000 pastors under the aegis of faithful pastors movement of Nigeria have appealed to the founder of the Synagogue Church of all nation, SCOAN, Prophet Temitope Joshua, to be their leader.
The pastors in a communiqué released after a meeting held in Lagos over the weekend, noted that the pastors who are from various churches in the country said they have decided to come together to form an association to promote the work of Jesus Christ through the propagation of his gospel.
In the communiqué signed by the Public Relation Officer of the movement, Bishop Isaac Giwa, the pastor stated that they had watched with admiration the activities of Prophet T.B Joshua in the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and were impressed.
“We have prayed over this new association and GOD has led us to seek the leadership of Prophet T.B Joshua to lead the new association to the Promised Land.
“We are also impressed with the philanthropic activities of the Prophet popularly called ‘the man in the synagogue’ and have decided to make philanthropy the cardinal principle of our movement.
“Prophet T.B Joshua’s donation to motherless babies’ homes, destitute and the old peoples’ homes nationwide are well documented and acknowledged publicly.
“Recently, Prophet T.B Joshua gave out N70 million for the burial of victims of the Synagogue building collapse. Each family of the deceased was to be given N750, 000 as burial expenses for the martyrs of faith,” they stated in the communiqué.
Prophet T.B Joshua is one of the notable philanthropic pastors in Nigeria. He was reported to have disbursed over $20 million in the last three years on charity, even as he was given the national honor of OFR for his charitable work.
Meanwhile, Members of the Botswana public have sent an unusual message to Nigeria as they seek military support from Africa in the increasingly challenging fight against the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.
A report from Yarona FM News, one of Botswana’s leading radio stations, sampled public opinion concerning the appeal by the African Union for its members to send soldiers to Nigeria to assist in the fight against Boko Haram.
According to the report, the majority of people spoken to urged against the Botswana Defence Force troops being sent to provide military aid to Nigeria.
“Some members of the public who say sending soldiers away would expose them to unnecessary dangers argue, among other things, that Nigeria should look to the famous televangelist TB Joshua for divine intervention,” Yarona FM reported.
These sentiments come on the backdrop of reports that the government seem undecided on whether or not it should send Botswana Defence Force troops to Nigeria.
Face book comments on the report reiterated the public mindset. “When you send soldiers there, they will be fighting the wrong battle,” Thero Matsuakata stated. “These people are led by evil spirits! Prophet T.B. Joshua talked about this long ago.”
However, a minority still insisted Botswana should provide the requested aid. “It would be very selfish of our government if they ignored this plea,” wrote Ken Pul Kol.
“Soldiers are trained for such things as much as a doctor is trained to save a patient’s life! What if we are befallen by the same thing tomorrow,” she queried. “Do we really want the world to look sideways and pretend we aren’t dying?”
Nigerian Pastor T.B. Joshua gained prominence in Botswana following his crusade in 2005 that packed the National Stadium in Gabarone. His television station Emmanuel TV remains one the most closely followed channels in the country.