LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – A Nigerian televangelist whose exuberant followers across Africa and beyond believe he has powers of healing and prophesy is now under scrutiny after one of his buildings collapsed, killing at least 70 people.
Following the disaster, officials charged that church workers obstructed rescue efforts.
The exact circumstances of the collapse as well as the death toll remained unclear on Wednesday, five days after the disaster at a multistory guesthouse and shopping area for T.B. Joshua’s Synagogue, Church of All Nations, on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.
South Africa, which said 67 of its nationals died and dozens were injured, was struggling to glean information from the scene and to answer the desperate inquiries of people whose relatives had flown to the West African nation to experience the evangelical Joshua’s preaching and faith healing.
Mpho Molebatsi, 25, expressed frustration about the lack of information while waiting with his mother at the main international airport in Johannesburg, where flights arrive daily from Nigeria. His sister traveled to the Nigerian church last week and Molebatsi hadn’t heard from her since they spoke on Friday, the day the building collapsed.