The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has said it discovered huge cases of fraud after the death of Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, its founder.
The church’s founder died on June 5, 2021, and was buried the following month.
Before his death, Joshua did not anoint any successor and this threw up a lot of issues.
However, last week, a court named Evelyn, Joshua’s widow, as the trustee of SCOAN, a move that did not go down well with some of its members and they protested.
Amid the crisis, some disciples of Joshua and key members of the church were invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Reacting to the media frenzy over the crisis, James Akhigbe, Head of SCOAN’s Legal Department, said huge cases of financial misappropriation were discovered after Joshua’s demise.
He said that was why some disciples and workers of the church were being probed.
Akhigbe also said that the affected workers are not being victimised.
“We stand in the light and we cannot compromise the ideal and legacy of our mentor and founder, late Senior Prophet TB Joshua on integrity, spiritual worship, unconditional love and humanitarianism.”
““The public would recall that on the 9th of September, 2021, the Board Of Trustees BOT of the SCOAN appointed Mrs. Evelyn TB Joshua as its Chairperson.
“This followed an order of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/L/CP/1109/2021 which appointed Mrs. Evelyn TB Joshua as a Trustee. The BOT had also appointed Mrs. TB Joshua as the new leader of the church with ratification by over two thousand strong jubilant congregations of the Church at a meeting on Thursday afternoon.
“Following this, and in view of the discovery of huge cases of financial misappropriation perpetrated in the past few months, reckless individualism and unimaginable acts grossly antipodal to the Sanctuary with the passing of the founder, the church leadership took steps to secure certain critical assets of the Church with an authorization for a comprehensive audit of the activities of the Church since the call to glory of our Founder and General Overseer in the interest of the global church members and future of the Church.
“This exercise involved some category of church workers including Disciples and it is being carried out objectively under a regular and absolutely normal environment without any harassment whatsoever to any person or group of persons, contrary to the disingenuous narrative now being peddled by mischief makers,” he said in a statement.
