Synagogue: Poor control crowd caused stampede, says official

An official of the Synagogue Church of Nations yesterday attributed the stampede that led to death of three worshippers on Saturday to poor crowd control.

The church official, who does not want his name mentioned, told New Telegraph that contrary to the report that the victims died in the process of trying to see prophet T B Joshua, the prophet was not within the church at the time of the incident.

Although he neither denied nor confirmed the reported deaths, the official however attributed the stampede to poor crowd control.

His words: “In this church, we usually deal with huge crowd; people are coming here from all over the world. Last weekend for example, we received over 10, 000 foreign visitors during our revival service. As you can see, activities are still ongoing. Everybody here is very busy. I know you want the church to comment on what happened. But we are not going to issue any statement on that because we can’t stop people from writing what they want to write in the press. We don’t want to blow our trumpet about what God is doing in this church.”

It will be recalled that no fewer than three worshippers were confirmed dead early Saturday morning following a stampede that ensued as worshippers were said to be struggling to gain access into the church to see Prophet T B Joshua during healing and deliverance service.

According to reports, after the worshippers were screened the crowd was much, the worshippers started struggling through the door, determined to see the prophet. In the process, three people collapsed and were rushed to Isolo General Hospital, where they were confirmed dead. 

A visit to the Ikotun Egbe, Lagos Headquarters of the church revealed a bustle of activities as new members including numerous foreign visitors were seen participating in the church’s new members’ class.

New fewer than 12 coaster buses were seen conveying visitors in and out of the church premises. It was gathered that they were either being conveyed to their lodging places or the church’s prayer mountain outside the premises.