The last may not have been heard about the real cause of the stampede which claimed at least three worshippers at the Synagogue Church of all Nations, SCOAN, Ikotun, Lagos, weekend,
It was gathered that the victims were part of a crowd that struggled to see the church’s General Overseer, Prophet Temitope Joshua, during a Prophetic Service.
SCOAN had in a post on its Facebook page, TB Joshua Ministries said: “Given what you have witnessed during the Friday Healing Service, Saturday Prophetic Service and the Sunday Live Service that encompass the Revival, continue to be in an atmosphere of prayer and use your faith to put a demand on the anointing as God’s miraculous works unfold through the ministration of the Morning Water. Believe that your own testimony is a moment away, in Jesus’ name.”
But, eyewitness said that the stampede, which claimed about three lives at the church, was not surprising.
He said that the activities of workers of the church played a huge role in the death of the people.
According to him, the church workers were given preferential treatment to foreigners who were apparently paying in dollar to buy respect while worshippers in Nigeria and other African countries had to fight and lie when that becomes a necessity before getting virtually anything they needed in the church.
Most of the church workers, it was gathered, were not only rude to Africans but showed preference to those from Europe and U.S., who came with dollar and euro. “These traits climaxed during the registration and/or documentations ahead of the two-day revival tagged, ‘’Revival of Restoration.’
“Again, while the ‘Special’ members are being ushered into the church building after being brought to the church from where they are lodged in fully air conditioned buses, their Nigerians counterpart and others from most African countries had to struggle, sometimes without success to get any attention or even enter the church.
“Many of the aggrieved individuals had to leave due to stringent conditions and preferential treatment for some worshipers. The workers were exhibiting traits capable of not only tarnishing the image of the church and exposing same to public ridicule,” the source said.
It was also gathered that most of the worshippers could not produce doctor’s report as one of the prerequisite requirement before being enlisted for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday ‘‘miraculous healings’’ by Prophet TB Joshua and other visiting men of God.
Some of the foreigners who did not want their names in prints told our correspondent what they were made to go through during the two-day pre-revival screening, which they said brought about their reservations about the entire church setup.
Due to the ill-treatment meted out to them by a church that prides itself to be following the footsteps of Christ, the worshipers mostly from some East African countries said that they became agitated and had to leave out of frustration they were subjected to by the church workers.
It was however gathered that Nigerians however were the worst hit by the arrogance of the church workers as security men manning the area were detailed to ensure that everyone was forced out of the premises.
Many worshippers who had travelled long distances and arrived late Thursday night were chased out to the main road at the mercy of hoodlums on what a policeman on the condition of anonymity said was ‘‘order from above’’.
Part of the issues was the demand for doctor’s report from a government-owned health facilities which many of the worshipers, mostly Nigerians, could not produce because the Nigerian Medical and Dental Association (NMA) does not recognize ‘‘healing miracle.’’
Due to the stringent conditions and discriminately attitudes meted out to them, many of the worshipers, particularly from some African countries are calling on the founder and Overseer of SCOAN, Prophet TB Joshua to as a matter of urgency end the discrimination because ‘Jesus Christ never discriminated against anyone’.
“How can you be so wicked that you will not allow people who came for church programme to use conveniences after the programme. People came from far and near and of course this led to increase in population so they should expect short of accommodation because of the influx of people,” a church member said.
One of the foreigners who said that he was disappointed with the experience rhetorically asked, “Where is the love we preach, where is the care for others above ourselves. It is not just preaching for the fun of it but walking the talk by encouraging the workers to act what the man of God is preaching”.
Our reporter could not have access to the media handlers of the church to confirm the development.
One of the evangelists said, “You cannot see any of the people in the Media section because they are very busy right now”.
