Pastor Temitope Joshua, the leader of the
Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), has
joined Nigeria’s big league of miracle and
prosperity priests who own private jets,
We has learned authoritatively.
Widely-known as TB Joshua, the church leader
took possession
TB Joshua's Synagogue G550 jet
Photo Credit:
Bob Holland
of the nearly brand-new Gulfstream G550 aircraft
in April 2015, a few months after a building
collapse at the premises of his megachurch in
the Ikotun-Egbe suburb of Lagos killed 116
people. Registered as “Synagogue Of Nations,”
the jet was purchased using the Bank Of Utah
trustee as the front for purchasing the jet.
Pastor TB Joshua’s jet is the most expensive of
the four owned by Nigerian pastors. Pastor David
Oyedepo (Bombardier Challenger 604), Pastor
Enoch Adeboye (Gulfstream GIV), and Ayo
Oritsejafor (Bombardier Challenger 601) are also
jet owners. It would be recalled that Pastor
Ortsejafor’s jet was cited in South Africa for
money-laundering money last year. The new
Nigerian government is said to be investigating
the circumstances of that case, which involved
federal funds.
Pastor TB Joshua’s jet has already started
making the rounds. In June, it left the Murtala
Muhammad International Airport in Lagos on a
whirlwind of South America, departing north from
there to Kentucky in the United States.
The jet, which has US registration number
N131LK, was built in 2010. It was delivered to its
first user in 2013 before making it to TB Joshua
early this year. We learned that the
jet made a voyage to Nigeria in December 2013,
as the Bank of Utah was apparently pitching it to
Pastor TB Joshua. The man of God reportedly
asked to see it and bless it before finally taking
delivery.
It could cost up to $3 million to maintain the jet
annually, depending on how heavily it is used.
Interior of a G550 jet
Sources at the church told our correspondents
that Pastor Joshua claims the jet was paid for by
at least eight African Heads of State in 2014. It
was first kept in Israel before the tragic church
collapse in September in which 116 persons,
mostly South Africans, were killed.
When us reached Pastor Joshua,
he denied owning a private jet. Instead, he said
he frequently charters private jets because he
travels extensively, noting, for instance, that he
has an oncoming trip to Argentina.
His claim runs contrary to information from the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which
claimed that N131LK is on record as belonging
to Pastor TB Joshua through SCOAN.
"What the Bank of Utah does is to help non-US
citizens act as agents to purchase aircraft using
US financing,” a source at NCAA told
Us.
The source recalled that the same bank was also
instrumental to purchasing jets from Bombardier
on behalf of the government of Rivers State
under Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and Akwa Ibom
under Godswill Akpabio.
posted from Bloggeroid
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