TB Joshua: the disgraced Nigerian televangelist

The late church leader allegedly subjected followers to sexual assault and abuse over nearly 20 years

TB Joshua
The Nigerian pastor died suddenly in 2021 at the age of 57, soon after journalists began investigating his church
(Image credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei /AFP via Getty Images)

Nigeria's most prominent Christian televangelist physically and sexually abused dozens of his followers in crimes that spanned continents and went on for decades, a new investigation has alleged.

Temitope Balogun Joshua, known as TB Joshua, founded one of Nigeria's biggest churches, called the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), in 1987. But according to BBC reporting, he committed sexual crimes against his followers "on a mass scale" until his death, aged 57, in 2021. 

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 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.