Evelyn Joshua, widow of founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) Prophet TB Joshua, has opened up on allegation that she is facilitating the deportation of some foreigners who worked closely with her husband.
Although one of Joshua’s daughters Promise had earlier debunked the allegation, Evelyn told Sun in a report published on Saturday, October 23 that the allegation was false.
About 17 foreign prophets and evangelists of the SCOAN were alleged to be facing deportation following an audit of the church’s finances after Evelyn took over. Some of the foreign prophets allegedly include Annette Easting (UK), Catherine Ann (UK), Ruth Tonge (UK), Christopher Tonge (UK), Seunghwa Lee (South Africa), Cindy Widjaja (Indonesia), Elizabeth Botouna (Greece), Angelique Nyinawintwari (Holland), and Angela Quintero (Colombia).
However, speaking on behalf of Evelyn, the church’s head of legal department James Akhighe told the newspaper that the church has no power to deport anyone.
“To say that the church instigated the deportation of foreigners is very unfortunate. In fact, we are highly disappointed in a certain media platform that reported that falsehood. It’s a blatant lie against the church and even against the Federal Ministry of Interior under whose purveyor the issue of immigration falls.
“The purveyor of this falsehood didn’t even consider the diplomatic implications of such falsehood. It defies logic that some British citizens would be detained and later deported from Nigeria without the knowledge of the British High Commission. There are standard procedures of deporting any foreign citizen and the church as a body doesn’t have any power of sort,” Evelyn said.
According to her, the church is going through a new phase which warranted its prolonged closure.
The SCOAN which is based in Lagos last opened during the week-long funeral of its founder which ended with a thanksgiving service on July 11.
