Dozens of women have alleged atrocities committed by the founder of one of the world's biggest Christian evangelical churches.Ex-Synagogue Church of All Nations (Scoan) members accused the late Nigerian pastor TB Joshua of recruiting them to live in his compound before subjecting them to horrific abuse, as part of a BBC investigation.
Allegations include being sexually assaulted, raped, forced to undergo abortions and tortured with whippings, sleep deprivation and isolation.
More than 25 women spoke to the BBC, which conducted a two-year investigation, in collaboration with the international media platform Open Democracy, across three continents.
Scoan did not respond to this report specifically, but denied previous accusations, saying: "Making unfounded allegations against Prophet TB Joshua is not a new occurrence… None of the allegations was ever substantiated.”
Five of the people who were interviewed are British, including a woman, Rae, who was just 21 years old when she left her studies as a graphic designer at Brighton University in 2002 and travelled to Lagos, Nigeria, with her friend Carla.
Like countless others around the globe, Rae had watched Joshua perform “healing miracles” on his TV channel (Emmanuel TV) and his YouTube channel, where people professed to be cured of cancer, HIV/Aids, blindness and more.
Rae, who came from a conservative Christian background, was “gay and she didn’t want to be”, so she turned to Joshua for help.
While Carla returned home, Rae says she was recruited to be “cured” of her sexuality and to study under Joshua to learn how to heal people as one of his “disciples” – an elite group of people who lived with Joshua inside his compound, sometimes for decades.
Rae lived there for 12 years, during which time she says she was one of the 16 former disciples who report being sexually assaulted or raped multiple times, up to four times a week.
She also described being subjected to a form of solitary confinement where she was not able to leave the compound, where nobody inside was allowed to speak to her, for two years.
“I had a complete breakdown, I tried to commit suicide five times,” Rae said, "we all thought we were in heaven, but we were in hell."
But this is what led to Joshua “losing control of her” and, while on a church trip to Mexico, she ran away.
Another alleged victim, Jessica Kaimu, from Namibia, says she was 17 when Joshua raped her for the first time in his penthouse bathroom, just weeks after she became a disciple.
She said: "I was screaming and he was whispering in my ear that I should stop acting like a baby… I was so traumatised, I couldn't cry.”
Jessica was forced to undergo five abortions during her five years in the compounds in “backdoor type medical treatments”, she says.
Others described being stripped and whipped with electrical cables and a horsewhip known as a koboko.
This was one of the ways disciples were punished for disobeying any of Joshua’s many rules, which included not sleeping without permission.
Sleep deprivation was reportedly part of living in the compound, with dormitory lights left on at night and no one having more than four hours of sleep at a time.
Alleged victims say they do not discuss their abuse with each other, as disciples were encouraged to report on each other, and access to phones and email accounts was heavily restricted.
Bisola, a Nigerian woman who spent 14 years inside the compound, says Joshua raped her and “asked her to recruit virgins for him”. She also corroborated the abortion claims, saying she witnessed dozens.
All former members compared the church to a cult, describing tactics of “brainwashing, indoctrination and mind control”.
Joshua died unexpectedly in June 2021 but the church is still running on a massive scale, led by his widow Evelyn.
Four of the British citizens who spoke out say they reported the alleged abuse to UK authorities.
The Foreign Office has not directly responded to these claims but said it takes all reports of crime, including sexual assault and violence against British nationals overseas, very seriously.
