Renowned Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, has called for a shift in perspective regarding the controversies surrounding the late T.B. Joshua. He argues that while religious matters are important, the human rights abuse committed by the late pastor should not be overlooked.
He made this comment after the BBC released a documentary highlighting the abuse within the church Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) led by T.B Joshua. The BBC documentary, which has received significant attention and sparked debate, provides details of sexual abuse, rape allegations, and alleged manipulation of miracles within the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).
“I think that the major takeaway from this documentary is the level of abuse we’ve all seen in the film. And I don’t want us to look at this with the lenses of religion, it is a pure human right abuse story which all of us as journalists have been doing and where you have the situation where girls have been raped, sexually abused and manipulations of miracles and others, its about time we say no to these things, we stand firm and say it as it is to let people know what the real story is,” he said.
In response to questions about the documentary’s publication coming after TB Joshua’s death, Anas emphasized the need to hold people accountable for suspected wrongdoing even after death. Anas drew comparisons to historical characters such as Hitler, emphasizing the significance of acknowledging and addressing individuals’ acts, regardless of their fate.
“I don’t think this is an attack on the church, I have emphasized that we are not here to talk about religion, we are here to talk about human right abuses. We have done stories on human rights abuses, and this is not any different from the stories we do. I think that if there is something wrong, we should have the courage as journalists to be able to tell it as it is.
“The death of a person does not mean that the issue is dead. There are equally important and many poor people who have suffered as a result of these atrocities. We talk about Hitler today, he is dead but we still talk about the atrocities and the human right abuses he meted out to people,” he added.
By: Emmanuella Sarfo-Ntow
