The Synagogue Church of All Nations on Tuesday held a press briefing ahead of the funeral service of its late founder, Prophet T.B. Joshua.
In the press briefing held to update newsmen about the funeral arrangements, the church refused to affirm the appointment of a new leader. The church said matters of such will require ‘God’s anointing’ to direct them when the time is right.
“There is no answer because it is not an administrative issue,” one of the church representatives at the briefing said.
The church restated that the week-long programme would start on July 5 to July 11 at the church headquarters located in the Ikotun area of Lagos state as opposed to the family and monarch of Arigidi, Akoko, Ondo state wish for the cleric to be buried in his hometown.
When asked if the Christian Association of Nigeria would be involved in the funeral, no clear answer was given but the church acknowledged that CAN reached out after the news of the cleric’s death went viral. The church representative said TB Joshua is a “friend to all, enemy to none”.
An international member of the church Gary Tonge said July 5 to July 11 has been dedicated to a series of laying-to-rest activities tagged ‘Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Prophet Joshua’.
He told newsmen that the event would start with a private candle light procession at 6pm.
Tonge said on July 6 to July 7, there would be a tribute service at 10a.m. to 7p.m. which would be opened to the public but with limited physical presence.
He said there would be a service of songs and all night praise starting at midnight.
The international member also said that on July 8, there would be the lying-in-state of the prophet from 11:00am to 5:00pm.
He said the event would be open to the public to pay their last respect to the man of God.
Tonge said that July 9, would be the laying to rest service and interment activities which would begin at 10:00am.
He said the thanksgiving service would be held on July 11 by 9:00a.m.
He said that SCOAN was working with Lagos State Government and the ministry of health to ensure that the current public health and security protocols would be observed during the duration of the event.
He, however, appealed to the general public who would not attend due to the current public health challenges to watch the broadcast from the comfort of their homes.
He said the event would be broadcast live on Emmanuel TV, DSTV, GOTV and streamed on Facebook.
