Report of a stampede at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) that allegedly claimed three lives have been dismissed by the Police, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA).
Similarly, the church denied the report, insisting that they have watched their video recordings of Prophet Temitope Joshua’s outing during Saturday’s special healing service and nothing of such was seen.
One of the spokespersons for the church who refused to be named said: “It’s just a rumour. I can tell you categorically that nothing of such happened here. Funny enough, I was even in church on that said Saturday when they claimed it happened. All the same, when I got the call from a journalist, I still consulted all the media team.
“You can make your findings. Nothing like that happened. You know the media team follows the prophet around with a video and still camera. How come none of the cameras picked up the stampede?”
However, some worshippers at the church and taxi drivers who carried passengers outside the premises told The Nation that there was an actual stampede.
According to a source, it happened outside the church premises around 4am, when Prophet Joshua came out.
He said: “What happened was that the man of God came outside the church and as he was walking, people tried to touch him. Alot of people were outside including sick people and they were running over themselves trying to touch him. That was when some people trampled on others.”
A taxi driver who refused to be named said he was carrying passengers to and fro the place, adding that he could not really ascertain if those trampled upon died.
He said: “It was early in the morning. I usually go there to carry passengers on their special healing service because so many people come from different parts of the world.
“People outside were forcing their way in and in the process, pushing one another. I don’t really know if anybody died but I know that some people were trampled upon.”
Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni said he was unaware of any stampede at the church, wondering how something like that would happen without the police knowing.
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