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TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' - Religion - Nairaland

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TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by OLAADEGBU(m): 11:35am On Jan 14
TB Joshua’s daughter: Tortured after standing up to 'Daddy'
Published
4 days ago


Ajoke Joshua
By Charlie Northcott, Helen Spooner & Tamasin Ford
BBC Africa Eye

The BBC reveals how the late megachurch leader TB Joshua, who is accused of committing sexual crimes on a mass scale, locked up his own daughter and tortured her for years before leaving her homeless on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria.

Warning: Contains details some readers may find distressing

"My dad had fear, constant fear. He was very afraid that someone would speak up," says one of the pastor's daughters, Ajoke - one of the first whistle-blowers to reach out to the BBC about the abuse she witnessed at her father's church, the Synagogue Church of All Nations (Scoan).

TB Joshua, who died in 2021 at the age of 57, is accused of widespread abuse and torture spanning almost 20 years.

Now aged 27, Ajoke lives in hiding and has dropped her surname "Joshua" - the BBC is not publishing her new name.

Little is known about Ajoke's birth mother, who was believed to be one of TB Joshua's congregants. Ajoke says she was raised by Evelyn, Joshua's widow, from as early as she can remember.

Until the age of seven, Ajoke says she had a very happy childhood, going on holiday with the Joshua family to places like Dubai.

But one day everything changed. She was suspended from school for a misdemeanour, and a local journalist wrote an article referring to her as the illegitimate child of TB Joshua. She was pulled out of school and taken to the Scoan compound in Lagos.

"I was made to move to the disciples' room. I didn't volunteer to be a disciple. I was made to join," she says
.

The disciples were an elite group of dedicated followers who served TB Joshua and lived with him inside the maze-like structure of the church. They came from all over the world, many staying at the compound for decades.

They lived under a strict set of rules: forbidden to sleep for more than a few hours at a time, prohibited from using their own phones or having access to their personal emails, and forced to call TB Joshua "Daddy".

"The disciples were both brainwashed and enablers. Everybody was just acting based on command - like zombies. Nobody was questioning anything," she says.

Just a child, Ajoke would not follow the rules like the other disciples: she refused to stand up when the pastor came into the room and rebelled against the severe sleeping orders.

The abuse started soon after.

Not long after arriving, aged seven, she remembers being beaten for wetting the bed and then being forced to walk around the compound with a sign around her neck saying "I am a bedwetter."

"The message about Ajoke was that she had terrible evil spirits that needed to be driven out," says one former female disciple.

"There was a time in the disciple meetings - he [Joshua] said people could beat her. Anyone in the female dormitory could just hit her and I remember just seeing people slapping her as they walked past," she says.


From the moment Ajoke moved to the church in the Ikotun neighbourhood of Lagos, she was treated like an outcast.

"She was, like, kind of labelled the black sheep of the family," says Rae, from the UK, who spent 12 years living in the church as a disciple. Like most of the former disciples interviewed by the BBC, she opted to only use her first name.

Rae remembers a time when Ajoke slept for too long, and Joshua shouted at her to get up.

Nigerian pastor TB Joshua pictured holding a Bible on 31 December 2014
IMAGE SOURCE,AFP

Ajoke says after years of abuse she lost her fear of her father aged 17

Another disciple took her to the shower and "whipped her with an electrical cord and then turned the hot water on," she says.

Recalling the incident, Ajoke says: "I was screaming at the top of my voice, and they just let the water run on my head for a very long time."

Such abuse was never-ending, she says.


"We're talking about years and years of abuse. Consistent abuse. My existence as a child from another mother undermined everything he [TB Joshua] claimed to stand for."

The abuse escalated to a different scale when she was aged 17 and confronted her dad about "accounts, first hand, of people who had experienced sexual abuse".

"I saw female disciples go up to his room. They were going away for hours. I was hearing things: 'Oh this happened to me. He tried sleeping with me.' Too many people were saying the same thing," she says.

The BBC spoke to more than 25 former disciples - from the UK, Nigeria, US, South Africa, Ghana, Namibia and Germany - who gave powerful corroborating testimony of experiencing or witnessing sexual abuse.

"I couldn't take it any more. I walked directly into his office on that very day. I shouted at the top of my voice: 'Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting all these women?'

"I had lost every iota of fear for this man. He tried to stare me down, but I was looking in his eyes," she says.

Emmanuel, who was part of the church for 21 years and spent more than a decade living in the compound as a disciple, remembers that day clearly.

"He [TB Joshua] was the first person that started hitting her… then other people joined," he says.

"He was saying: 'Can you imagine what she's saying about me?' Even as much as they were hitting her, beating her, she was still saying the same thing."


BBC iPlayer
Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua: A shocking journey into a maze of manipulation and terrifying abuse perpetrated by one of the most powerful religious figures of the 21st Century.

Watch now on the BBC Africa YouTube channel

World of Secrets - The Disciples: A nine-episode season - a shocking journey into a maze of manipulation and terrifying abuse.



Ajoke says she was dragged out of his office and put in a room away from the rest of the church members, where she lived in social confinement for more than a year.

It is a form of punishment within Scoan known as "adaba", something Rae also experienced for two years.

During this time Ajoke says she was repeatedly hit with belts and chains, often on a daily basis.

"I wonder how I lived through those times. I couldn't even stand up for days after these beatings. I couldn't even take a shower. He was trying so hard to stop people listening to me."

One day when Ajoke was 19, she says she was escorted to the front gates of the church and left there. The church security, who were armed, were told she was never to be allowed back in. This was six years before her father died.

"I found myself homeless. I had nobody to reach out to. Nobody would believe me. Nothing prepared me for that life," she says.

As a young woman with no money, Ajoke did what she could to survive and spent many years on the streets.

She first contacted the BBC in 2019 after watching a BBC Africa Eye exposé - but it wasn't until others corroborated her story that a long BBC investigation began into uncovering the abuse at Scoan.

The BBC contacted Scoan with the allegations in this investigation. It did not respond to them, but denied previous claims against TB Joshua.

"Making unfounded allegations against Prophet TB Joshua is not a new occurrence… None of the allegations was ever substantiated," it said.

He kept all of us in slavery, total absolute slavery. Ajoke was bold enough to confront him. I see her as a hero"
Emmanuel
Former church insider


With the help of former disciples and some close friends, Ajoke recently managed to get off the streets. But it has led to episodes where she has struggled with her mental health.

Yet after everything she has been through, she has remained determined to tell the truth about her father.

"Every time I was beaten up, every time I was humiliated, it just reminded me there was something wrong in the system," she says.

Former disciples have told the BBC that seeing Ajoke stand up to this man was one of the main reasons they started to doubt their faith in TB Joshua.

"He kept all of us in slavery, total absolute slavery," says Emmanuel.

"Ajoke was bold enough to confront him. I see her as a hero."

Truth, Ajoke says, is the most important thing to her: "I lost everything, my home, my family, but for me, it comes down to the truth.

"And for as long as there's breath in me, I will defend that, until the very end."

Her dreams are to one day go back to school and finish her education that was cut so short.

This Africa Eye investigation was conducted by Charlie Northcott, Helen Spooner, Maggie Andresen, Yemisi Adegoke and Ines Ward.

More on TB Joshua and his church:

Church leader abused and raped disciples, BBC finds
'Terrible things happened' - inside TB Joshua’s church of horrors
How Nigerian preacher covered up fatal building collapse
Nigeria's disgraced televangelist TB Joshua
Disciples: The Cover-up on the BBC Africa YouTube channel

BBC

"He kept all of us in slavery, total absolute slavery. Ajoke was bold enough to confront him. I see her as a hero"
Emmanuel
Former church insider

3 Likes 2 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Cruise777: 11:41am On Jan 14
cool



Pastors children always lack care and sometimes rude or wayward

Am sure Baba Adeboye takes Leke everywhere with him so as not to fumble or embarrass him


TB Joshua should had spend more time at home with his family and not just ministry



.

20 Likes 5 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by omenka1: 1:31pm On Jan 14
Eu

1 Like

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by ebuk4real(m): 1:31pm On Jan 14
angry

Can't we allow this dead man's body to rest in peace?

The dead is dead, let us the living face front. Is it too much to ask for?

41 Likes 3 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by money121(m): 1:31pm On Jan 14
Oga oo

1 Like 1 Share

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by NOETHNICITY(m): 1:31pm On Jan 14
Many dark stories surrounding TB have been lingering on for decades even before his death.

Some of his subordinates fell out with him due to the reality of the dark side of the pastor’s life.

Religion is a sensitive issue and people can easily get hypnotized. Many people will still fall even if the pastor makes a public confession.

This is our dangerous it is.

71 Likes 7 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by mcmbonu: 1:31pm On Jan 14
Ok

1 Like 1 Share

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by MrWraith: 1:32pm On Jan 14
Oya Defenders come and defend

22 Likes 2 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by bigdammyj: 1:32pm On Jan 14
Over flogged issue.

4 Likes 1 Share

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Fiscus105(m): 1:32pm On Jan 14
I heard you, even the one you don't say, infact, tell us TB Joshua was cannibal.

What I know is that, TB Joshua has come and gone and he impacted positively to humanity far far more than his shortcomings.

And for the daughter, I'm expecting you to make ur own impacts on humanity too, and not trying to be popular base on character assassination of a man, whom you claimed to be ur own biological father.

One thing is certain, on or before next two weeks, media would stop all their wahala" but the daughter who claimed his father did 'this and that' to her, would be hunted by her self-confession for life.

All those applauding you today, are coming for ur head in future base on same story you shared now.

37 Likes 8 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Bobby4090: 1:33pm On Jan 14
Yy

1 Like

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by kereman1: 1:33pm On Jan 14
All these is as a result of those that patronize all these religion con me, if everyone on this earth was like me, na just to dey smoke be high and happy.

I was about doing a business with a man, not until he said, I'm a pastor I will not deceive u, na there I end the deal.

Legal criminals

23 Likes 2 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Writer50: 1:33pm On Jan 14
Charity begins at home

3 Likes

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by juwoonn(m): 1:34pm On Jan 14
Cruise777:
Pastors children always lack care and sometimes rude or wayward

Am sure Baba Adeboye takes Leke everywhere with him so as not to fumble or embarrass him
Is Leke the only child of baba Adeboye?
Some Nigerians will just talk without reasonig.

14 Likes

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by verybadmouth(m): 1:34pm On Jan 14
Even when he was alive, I knew he was an evil man. Una a never hear anything yet. More stories will unfold about him and his evil church

27 Likes 4 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Ykc2(m): 1:34pm On Jan 14
How many people from South west claimed to be god?Jesus of oyinbo ,TB Joshua,sat guru maharaji, nawa ooh

7 Likes

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by PheelzAlmighty: 1:34pm On Jan 14
god of men everywhere... Nigerians are so dumb and clueless.. can't discern anything angry

7 Likes 3 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Ustec: 1:35pm On Jan 14
Allow the God of men to rest in peace biko.
Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Actuarydeji(m): 1:35pm On Jan 14
Let the death rest, do not suffocate them
Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by davidtemi(m): 1:37pm On Jan 14
Hypnotized
Brainwashed
That's all

2 Likes

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by epainos: 1:38pm On Jan 14
Anyone still attending SCOAN needs to be rehabilitated fast. grin

Ajoke is the weapon that killed Joshua. Of course, Joshua could defend allegations against the women, but he knew he could not deny Ajoke...So, I believe that he committed suicide as people said.

It is never too late to take DNA samples from his grave na. grin

Joshua knew that he was finished....thank God for Ajoke. grin

17 Likes 4 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by aspabay(m): 1:38pm On Jan 14
She went on vacation with the Joshua's family to Dubai and yet no single picture of her with any of other TB Joshua's children
Wonders shall never end

19 Likes 4 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by ifeco4(m): 1:38pm On Jan 14
ebuk4real:
angry

Can't we allow this dead man's body to rest in peace?

The dead is dead, let us the living face front. Is it too much to ask for?

This kind of faulty mentality is the reason we have the kinds of leaders we have in Nigeria today

29 Likes 4 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by seandurse(m): 1:38pm On Jan 14
I do tune in to Emmanuel tv these days anytime I want to laugh. There are two young fellows and the mommy G.O performing miracles on a steady. Witches and wizards dey confess always. You will hear; I tie his destiny, I hang her womb, I made him jobless. Then you will hear fuuu fuuuu, the confesser don fall and stand up few minuit later to say; I'm free, I'm free grin

46 Likes 3 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Racoon(m): 1:38pm On Jan 14
Humn

1 Like

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Buharism101(m): 1:39pm On Jan 14
If only people would study theology with an open mind, study all religions in comparison to Islam... Then they would know that Allah is the one and only true God!

14 Likes 2 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by blaquemyc: 1:39pm On Jan 14
The more you look, the less you understand. Let the "daddy GOs'" defenders take over.

3 Likes

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Anguldi(m): 1:39pm On Jan 14
angry

1 Like

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Truthshotcrazy: 1:39pm On Jan 14
OLAADEGBU:


"He kept all of us in slavery, total absolute slavery. Ajoke was bold enough to confront him. I see her as a hero"
Emmanuel
Former church insider
Hey OP, Just saw it in the blogs headlines last night, @Ajoke, the synagogue
has officially responded----video of one of the wisenen trending, clarifying that AJOKE WAS AN ABANDONED CHILD DISCOVERED UNDER A TRUCK CLOSE TO THE SYNAGOGUE. And that AJOKE lied and she ain't The late prophet's biological baby 🍼 ,but adopted along the way


Only. A DNA test of AJOKE with one of Tb Joshua's relatives will put naysayers to rest. For now, her biological relationship to The late prophet is questionable

6 Likes 3 Shares

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by AllenSpencer: 1:39pm On Jan 14
Cruise777:
Pastors children always lack care and sometimes rude or wayward

Am sure Baba Adeboye takes Leke everywhere with him so as not to fumble or embarrass him



grin grin grin

1 Like 1 Share

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by Anguldi(m): 1:39pm On Jan 14
Buharism101:
If only people would study theology with an open mind, study all religions in comparison to Islam... Then they would know that Allah is the one and only true God!
Rest , with all the associated terrorism undecided

11 Likes 1 Share

Re: TB Joshua's Daughter, Ajoke Tortured After Standing Up To 'Daddy' by ednut1(m): 1:40pm On Jan 14
Any evidence asides the resemblance The man’s children should help with DNA with this ajoke so we can confirm if they share a common parent.

By the way TB Joshua is fake, those of us wey grow up for ikotun sabi am well from the 90s 🤣

21 Likes 2 Shares

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