How TB Joshua Influenced Nigeria’s Elections

By Tawia Acheampong

A prominent politician has sensationally claimed that famous Pastor T.B. Joshua played a key role in ensuring peace reigned in Nigeria following the general elections that took place last year which saw a historic transition of power.

According to reports in Nigerian online news, Joshua allegedly sent a message prior to the elections to former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan through one of his senior advisers, Ambassador Raphael Horsfall.

“He told me categorically that I should go and tell Mr President that it is too late, that nothing can be done, that we will lose the election but God will prevail on the peace of Nigeria,” said Horsfall, speaking before a packed congregation at The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos on Sunday 28th February 2016.

Scores of Ghanaian flags were observed in the church on the live broadcast of the service on Emmanuel TV, the station of the Nigerian cleric which enjoys extensive viewership across Ghana.

“That is why when we lost elections, I was at peace,” Horsfall continued, adding that he went to meet Joshua following a consultation with Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience.

“Mr President was calm after hearing that word from Prophet T.B. Joshua. Everyone was telling him to annul the election, which he had the power to do, but nobody knew this is actually the reason why His Excellency conceded defeat to the opposition,” Horsfall, currently working as a UN ambassador and in the office of the Nigerian presidency, continued.

The revelation from the politician is seen as a confirmation of Joshua’s initial statement following the elections that he had sent a warning message to Jonathan.

According to a report published in several Nigerian newspapers, the cleric said ‘God’ spoke to him that whatever the outcome of the election, Jonathan’s regime had come to an end and his concession of defeat would ‘save the lives of millions’.

Horsfall implored Nigeria’s current leadership under President Muhammad Buhari to seek 'spiritual guidance' from Joshua to address the growing economic and security challenges engulfing the nation.

"This is not time for religious sentiment, nor is it a time for ethnic sentiment,” Horsfall counselled, adding that Nigeria had been ‘blessed’ with a man who ‘hears from God directly’.

T.B. Joshua is a household name in Ghana, especially renowned for his closeness to the late Ghanaian president John Atta Mills.

After Mill’s historic ascendency to power in 2009, his first port of call was The SCOAN in Lagos where he publicly testified that ‘the man of God’ had prophesied specific details of his three-rung electoral victory.

Ghanaian President John Mahama was also a visitor at The SCOAN when he was campaigning as a Vice Presidential Candidate in the run up to the 2008 General Elections.

Mahama will hope to retain his seat in power with the next elections scheduled for the end of 2016 fast approaching.