Foreign prophets and evangelists working at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) have reportedly been sent packing.
According to Sahara Reporters, the clergymen and women were deported to their respective countries allegedly at the instigation of Mrs Evelyn Joshua, the wife of the late founder of the church, Temitope Balogun Joshua.
It was a fallout of a protracted leadership tussle that has bedevilled the church since the demise of its founder.
It was gathered that some of the disciples of the late Joshua felt Evelyn was not qualified to lead SCOAN.
TB Joshua in his lifetime kept his wife and family away from the public eye and the politics in the church.
He also reportedly removed Evelyn from SCOAN’s Board of Trustee (BoT) while distancing her from the day-to-day activities of the church.
Among Joshua’s inner circle, Prophet Racine Bousso from Senegal, Prophet Joseph David from Nigeria, and Prophet Christopher Dennis Tonge from the United Kingdom were said to be very prominent and represented the late cleric at events before his death.
The foreign pastors were reportedly evicted from their official residences in SCOAN, while others were held hostage in their rooms and their phones forcibly retrieved from them.
It was gathered that the Evelyn-led leadership also dragged some church officials, including the prophets mentioned above, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged misappropriation of funds.
Amid the tussle, Evelyn reportedly initiated a move to return to the church’s leadership. She also got a court injunction returning her to SCOAN’s Board of Trustees.
Justice Tijjani Ringim of the Lagos Federal High Court had ordered the appointment of Evelyn as a trustee of SCOAN in line with the church’s Constitution, which prescribes a minimum of three trustees for the church.
Her appointment is said to be contrary to the action of her late husband who allegedly removed her from the board before his death.
No fewer than 17 foreign prophets and evangelists of the church have been deported to their countries due to a petition allegedly written against them by Evelyn.
Those deported include Annette Easting (United Kingdom), Catherine Ann (United Kingdom), Ruth Christina Tonge (United Kingdom), Christopher Dennis Tonge (United Kingdom), Seunghwa Lee (South Africa), Cindy Elizabeth Widjaja (Indonesia), Elizabeth Botouna (Greece), Angelique Nyinawintwari (Holland) and Angela Patricia Quintero (Colombia).
Others are Allison Polo Sandoval (Colombia), Flor Perez Rodriguez (Mexico), Fanny Elma Alfred (France), Racine Bousso (Senegal), Angela Marie Brandt (USA), Nadine Graham (South Africa), Eugene Rademeyer (South Africa) and Stella Cambrone (France).
“Some security operatives whom Mrs Evelyn Joshua had hired and put on standby invaded the church and the prayer mountain simultaneously. The prayer mountain which is a few minutes drive from the main church has been the residence of the late Senior Prophet, the five junior prophets and some of the evangelists, while the remaining evangelists stayed at the church.
“The five prophets who include an American, a Briton, a French and two Nigerians were swooped upon and forcibly ejected from the prayer mountain and carried to the church. Their rooms were broken into and ransacked. Meanwhile, the evangelists in the church were also rounded up and manhandled by the security operatives with the church security personnel as they pulled them out of their various departments and some ex-workers and ex-disciples were immediately drafted in to take over those departments which include the accounts, studio and Emmanuel TV transmission room.
“The five prophets and the disciples, both Nigerians and foreign nationals were held hostage the whole day and their handsets seized from them. Currently, all the Nigerian disciples have been shamefully evicted from the church and the foreign ones have also been deported to their various countries. She also petitioned 20 of the evangelists and prophets, both Nigerians and foreign nationals to the EFCC for alleged theft, fraud and money laundering. The allegations are absolutely baseless. The case has been filed in court and EFCC has been served a restraining order since September 2021.
