T. B. Joshua: All Nigerian leaders need prayers -Lawan

Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday said that Nigeria and its leaders across all levels need the prayers of everyone, irrespective of religion and ethnic affiliations for long life in good health and sound mind to discharge their duties.

In his remarks on the death of the founder, Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, popularly known as T. B. Joshua on Saturday night in Lagos, following a motion by Senator Ajayi Boroffice (APC Ondo North), Lawan believed that God is capable of helping the country and its leaders to overcome the numerous challenges they are facing.

“Let me condole the family of T. B. Joshua, and also say that our country and Nigerian leaders across all levels need prayers.

“We need the intervention of God while we continue to do our work and perform our functions and duties.

“The prayers from everyone will be very important and we continue to ask for that because this nation and the people believe in God, and we believe that God can help us in anyway that is possible to overcome the numerous challenges our country is passing through,” the Senate President stressed.

The upper legislative chamber, in its resolution, held a minute silence in honour of the deceased and sent a condolence message to his family.

Presenting the motion under Order 43 of the Senate Rules, Boroffice, said the federal government honoured Joshua with the national honour of the Order of the Federal Republic, OFR in 2008 in recognition of his altruistic contributions to national development..

He pointed out that the cleric’s death is a great loss to Ondo North Senatorial District in particular and Ondo State and Nigeria in general, adding that he “lived a selfless and impactful life, and left a legacy of service and sacrifice.”

Boroffice, who is the Senate Deputy Leader, said “the late Joshua was a man of humble beginning who rose to build SCOAN, a ministry renowned for charity; with membership from across Nigeria, Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world.”

“He epitomised the true Nigerian spirit, he was religious tolerant, welcoming to all ethnic inclinations and believed in the unity of Nigeria,” the lawmaker said.

According to him, the deceased was an illustrious son of Ondo State who contributed his quota to the advancement of the state, sponsored electrification projects in communities, installed transformers and largely provided succor to the needy in the society

He added that the Joshua was renowned for his humanitarian services in key areas like community support, scholarships, disaster relief, education, sports and support for migrants and deportees.

“For many years, late Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua sponsored feeding programmes for widows, orphans, physically challenged and less privileged people without discriminations;

“His commitment to peace and stability of this country was quite mind-boggling as he committed huge resources to live changing rehabilitation programmes for former Niger Delta militants;

“He was a major promoter of sports development in Nigeria, established the Emmanuel Soccer Academy and My People FC for the purpose of helping young talented footballers and some of the young footballers have made Nigeria proud in international competitions;

“He was a great ambassador of Nigeria as he sponsored a combined team of medical personnel and humanitarian workers to Haiti aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in 2010;

“Furthermore, late Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua extended humanitarian aid to Ecuador and rebuilt school in Ecuador after the Ecuador earthquake in 2016;

“The late Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua significantly promoted tourism in Nigeria as thousands of religious tourists from Africa and other continents fly into Nigeria to attend his church’s weekly services;

“He was a consummate and compassionate Nigerian who supported community development in great measures and paid his dues in Nation building,” Boroffice stressed.

The late prophet was born on June 13, 1963 in Arigidi Akoko, Ondo North Senatorial District, Ondo State and received his early education at St. Stephen’s Anglican Primary School in Arigidi Akoko, Nigeria, between 1971 and 1977.

He died on June 5, 2021 at the age of 57, a week to his 58th birthday.