T.B. Joshua Speaks,  Police Acts

T.B. Joshua

Nigerian preacher, T. B. Joshua, is reported to have made a pronouncement to his congregation during Sunday’s church service – transmitted live on his TV channel – requesting prayers for Ghana and Nigeria over a possible foreign attack that has been “revealed” to him.

Hear him: “I am seeing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – if I may say Thursday – because these evil people they are very funny. Anything can just happen. You will be very shocked to see what will happen, because when the prayer is going in this direction they change to another direction,”

Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Which of them? The immediate ones in this week or all of such days in our lifetime? This was the first part of the pronouncement which has sent Ghana’s police service to “calm nerves” via a public statement. Now hear the second part.

“I see Thursday, Friday. Pray for these two nations – Nigeria and Ghana – over gathering in any way; over attack. I am seeing attack and that will be in a foreign way. The attack will come not in a local way. So please open your lips and pray for these two nations for protection,” he said. This part of the pronouncement talks about “Thursday and Friday”. Saturday is conspicuously missing this time or was it a slip of tongue? Or is this an updated version of the statement which demonstrates more specificity as only two days are mentioned?

The preacher did not give clues about the period within which these attacks are to be expected apart from the days mentioned. That leaves us in no-man’s land! Which of the days are actually in reference here? The two or the three? Some things are not adding up.

But the amazing part of the development is the reaction of the Ghana Police Service. They released a statement assuring the public of adequate security arrangements to head off any looming crisis in the wake of the “prophecy”, leaving many feathers ruffled. The first paragraph of the Police statement as captured on myjoyonline read; “The Ghana Police Service wishes to urge the general public to remain calm in the wake of terrorist attack prophesy by the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T.B. Joshua”. The police labelled it a “prophecy” but did the cleric prophesy or he tabled a prayer request? Various names – prophecy, prediction, warning – have also been used by the media to describe the statement by the cleric.

Ghana, according to the constitution, is not a Christian country so where do we place the prophecy of a church leader when we all don’t belong to the same faith and the same church? But what exactly is the place of prophecy in modern day policing? Is it intelligence, information or credible report? Or is Ghana a Christian nation? Are we being ruled by a pastor? Why then should there be such a national announcement on the heels of a pronouncement by a church leader to his devotees? Couldn’t the police have treated the statement as intelligence and upped their game in lieu of this panic reaction, if really they found it credible enough? Was the earlier warning by the national security not enough to keep us on a high alert? Is Ghana now a branch of T.B Joshua’s church?

Some pastors in Ghana put forward certain predictions in the past and they were so badmouthed that, even when some of those predictions came through, no one remembered to give them credit. My interest is not to question the credentials of any cleric but to remind the police service that Ghana is a secular country. If Kwaku Bonsam makes a pronouncement tomorrow that there will be violence in this year’s elections, will the police issue a statement to calm nerves or cause his arrest for causing fear and panic? Even if the entire police service believes in the pronouncements of T.B. Joshua, there’s no evidence that the whole Ghana does.

The threat of terrorism is potent globally and security chiefs worldwide have been digging deep into their extensive repertoire of knowledge for the most effective way to deal with the menace. So the pronouncements of a church leader to his congregation should not cause a whole national police set up to react in such bizarre manner as if the man is the spiritual leader of the nation. Ghana is a secular nation and dabbling in such waters flies in the face of that constitutional arrangement.

Before the statement by T.B. Joshua, the nation had already been put on the alert by the National Security Council so what was all the song and dance by the police about? The cleric commands considerable influence across the continent and beyond but that should not earn such national attention as if Ghana is branch of his church. Even among Christians in Ghana, not all are his members and not all believe in his modus operandi. That does not mean his utterances should be treated with contempt but giving it such national prominence is also preposterous, to be charitable.

T.B. Joshua is based in Nigeria and his statement or rather, prayer request, has not aroused any panic reaction from the Nigerian Police Force, although there’s no evidence that they’re treating it lightly. We need to be more serious with the issue of security in this country, we don’t need a soothsayer to tell us that. A word is enough for the wise. My thoughts