Synagogue Collapse: Survivor Blames Satan, Not Structural Failure
A man who claims he spent over 24 hours under the rubble of TB Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) blamed “Satan” rather than structural failure for the collapse.
Taiwo Taiwo was among 131 people pulled from the remains of the guesthouse for foreign followers of preacher TB Joshua that collapsed on September 12. The incident took at least 80 people’s lives.
According to Taiwo, he was helping visitors at the guesthouse, which could accommodate up to 350 people in its dining hall. He said the accident happened at about 1:10 pm and he was only pulled free at 5:05 pm the following day. Miraculously, Taiwo appeared unscathed apart from a bandaged finger.
“Most of them were actually in the church having a lecture from the Wise Man (Joshua). People were coming back to have their lunch,” said the 28-year-old.
“I just noticed a very sharp sound and I looked up and I saw the wall just coming off…, like something you see in the movies. It didn’t look real.
“Consciously, the (Holy) Spirit said to me, ‘This is not normal’. Next thing…, it was all dark. People were screaming, shouting. I just kept calm,” he added.
Taiwo, who said he was a recent graduate of the University of West London, believed that sabotage was to blame.
“I believe it was an attack. Obviously every thing that is not good comes from Satan.
“The idea… that people are thinking that it is a collapse, it’s not possible… I’m very sure of that because the structure was solid,” he said.
As Vanguard reports, there was no independent corroboration of Taiwo’s account. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said survivors had typically suffered broken bones and injuries from being crushed.
Recently, TB Joshua has broadcast security camera footage on his emmanuel.tv network, which he said showed a “strange aircraft” flying low over the building four times between 11:30 am and 11:54 am. And the building is then seen to collapse at 12:44 pm, according to the camera’s time-codes. The prophet called the incident “an attack on the Synagogue Church of All Nations and in particular Prophet TB Joshua”.
However, the Lagos state government has indicated that the addition of extra floors onto the building without strengthening the foundations caused the fatal collapse and ordered an investigation.
Survivors of the tragedy have so far not spoken publicly about their ordeal in Lagos, although South Africans who returned home have recounted their lucky escape from the rubble.
South Africa’s high commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, told The Times newspaper that one woman pulled out a steel bar that had pierced her chest and missed her vital organs and spine.
