Lagos — Against the background of public skepticism about miracle-wreaking pastors and their healing claims, a Federal Government agency blows the whistle. Now the pastors will be subjected to the same scrutiny similar to the way NAFDAC pursues fake drug makers. Will the miracle pastors survive?

The coming months will find Nigeria's clan of miracle-working Pentecostal pastors scru tinising every pronouncement of Mr. Silas Babajiya, Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC. Babajiya's rise as a major subject of pastors' interest started on 23 February.

On that day, the NBC boss paid a courtesy call on Bishop Mike Okonkwo, President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN. The visit was informed by NBC's discomfort with the way Christian miracles are presented on television and radio. Babajiya was direct. In an interview with The NEWS, the NBC boss said he told Okonkwo that religious programmes need to be repackaged in accordance with the commission's regulations. "We have discovered a trend where miracles are shown but there are no build-ups to them. In some cases, they just announce the next person and what we start seeing is miracle. It has the problem of credibility to someone that is young in faith or does not belong to that faith because there is no build-up,"Babajiya said.

Then came a clincher: the commission would wield the big stick by sanctioning an offending medium.

TheNEWS learnt that Babajiya's expression of the NBC's discomfort was largely sparked by the practice of purchasing airtime used exclusively for the advertisement of pastors' abilities to cure ailments, particularly those without cure.

This magazine learnt that Okonkwo agreed with the NBC boss. He reportedly said that the unrestrained airing of unverifiable claims of such miracles is a source of embarrassment to the PFN. He added that the Christian body is already planning to establish rules that would guide the broadcast of miracles and other Christian religious programmes.

The duo seemed to agree that many of the miracles aired are contrived to promote the sponsor-pastors, their ministries and sustain patronage of their churches.

TheNEWS gathered that Babajiya's utterance was informed by the NBC's readiness to give teeth to the Nigerian Broadcasting Code as it affects religious broadcast.

According to section 4.4.6 of the Nigerian Broadcasting code, religious programmes must not be presented in a misleading way. "Religious broadcasts shall be particular in terms of content to its creed, and shall not be presented in a manner to mislead the public." Also, Section 8.4.7 of the code prohibits the use of expressions and phrases such as "magical, miracle, 'miraculous etc. Section 8.6.1 of the code expressly states that miracles broadcast must be verifiable.

"An advertisement promoting religion in any form shall: a) Present its claims, especially those relating to miracles, in such manner that is provable and believable; b) not use the peculiarities of the broadcast technology to mislead the viewer or listener; not cast aspersions on any other religion or sect and d) not to try to exploit the weakness, handicaps, shortcomings or state of desperation of members of the public," the section states.

It is not clear if pastors are in possession of the code.

What, however, seems clear is that there has been a degree of disregard for the portion of the code that stipulates that miracles for broadcast must be provable.

With the planned activation of the relevant portions of the broadcasting code, it is also clear that many radio and television stations stand to experience colossal dips in their advertisement revenues. In the event of a breach, the offending television or radio station could face unspecified sanctions.

Over the years, the broadcast of miracle-laden religious programmes has been a veritable source of advertisement income for radio and television stations. The programmes have also ensured unremitting publicity for the sponsor-pastors, their churches and presumed powers.

The planned television shutout will, in effect, limit the visibility of the pastors and their miracle-dispensing ministries.

Set to be hit by NBC's hammer are Temitope Joshua, founder of the Lagos-based Synagogue of All Nations, and Chris Oyakhilome, founder of The Christ Embassy. In addition to being the leading exponents of miracles, Joshua and Oyakhilome are unarguably the biggest spenders on the Nigerian televangelist circuit.

In their teachings, the two pastors place the accent on deliverance from infertility, financial problems, ancestral curses, cancer, AIDS and more. The pastors attribute their powers to God. The recipients of the miracles are shown daily on television, testifying to God's powers delivered through the pastors.

Joshua's miracles are broadcast daily on about 10 television stations across Nigeria. Each broadcast runs for half an hour.

Oyakhilome is not far behind. His Atmosphere for Miracles runs for one hour on about 15 television stations across the country. In addition, the programme is also broadcast on God's Television, a satellite station that beams his mega-crusades and miracles to all parts of the world.

Joshua's popularity is evidenced by his numerous high-profile followers from within and outside Nigeria.

Though Oyakhilome does not attract top guns like Joshua, his crusades are packed and frenzied like western rock concerts.

Joshua and Oyakhilome are not the only prominent miracle pastors on television. There are also Samson Ayorinde of the World Evangelism Bible Church; Dr. Enoch Adejare Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God among others.

Ayorinde claims to have God-given powers against barrenness and sundry afflictions. His crusades are usually packed. He also maintains a regular television programme - Samson Ayorinde Live - on which his miracles are broadcast.

For those who desire his miracles but cannot attend his crusade, Ayorinde reaches them in their living rooms. He enjoins them to place a glass of water in front of the television set, anytime he is on air, and the miracles will reach them. Adeboye's appearances on television are less frequent. Most of the airtime he buys is used for teaching.

His miracles are usually advertised after any of his church's crusades or mega vigils. However, they are as spectacular as that of others.

The threat of a possible ban on television miracles has started eliciting reactions. T.B. Joshua reacted with muted anger, declining comments on the NBC and its threat of sanction. However, he maintained that his miracles are real.

David Adedeji, Pastor in charge of Grace Outreach Centre, Surulere, Lagos, told TheNEWS that there is a need for some sort of control on the broadcast of miracles on television.

He, however, opposes a total ban.

"I support the ban in a way but they should realise that Christianity is not complete without miracles. I support the ban because our mission as Christians, is to save souls and preach salvation to a dying world. Miracles are a proof that we are on course in this assignment. But we have left the assignment, which is our major task, and have dwelt so much on the minor. The ban will in a way, bring sanity to the whole miracle thing", Adedeji told this magazine.

But Sunday Peters, a pastor at Royal Family Church, Ojo, Lagos, disagrees with Adedeji and the NBC. Peter sees the threat of a ban as an abridgement of Christians' freedom to worship but agreed that many miracles are poorly presented.

"The ban is against our freedom of worship. I agree that there are excesses but that should be left for a Christian body to sanitise. We have for example, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, which can act in this regard.

It is not for the NBC to slam a ban on us. Even if they want to do that, it should not be a blanket thing.

"Christianity without proof is useless. Miracles are a proof of our belief that Jesus is alive and well. They also serve as an advertisement to draw unbelievers to the gospel. Miracles on TV give hope to the hopeless," Peters said.

Chukwudi Orjinta, a marketer, views the controversy differently.

"There are so many angles to this issue, but I will like to talk about it from the point of view of a sales person. We all know that televangelism accounts for a larger chunk of revenues garnered by TV stations. But why will the NBC and the Government want to deny these stations their rights to operate profitably by banning programmes which fetch them millions of naira weekly? Besides this, the right to receive information is constitutional. I think banning such Christian programmes will only deprive a set of people from being adequately informed and nurtured in the way of God", Orjinta said.

Controversies over miracles are as old as Christianity itself. The Bible recorded accounts of Jews expressing doubts on some of Jesus' miracles. According to the synoptic gospels, Peter, a disciple of Jesus, was filled with doubt when he saw Jesus walking on water. Though Peter was also walking on water, his doubt started making him drown. While Christians, particularly of Pentecostal persuasion, believe that miracles happen only in the lives of those who have unshakeable faith, many others see the claims of pastors as contrived to attract people to their churches.

The magnitude and regularity of such miracles fuel the doubts expressed about them.

In April 2000, Jeremiah Ejikeme, a Pentecostal pastor, stunned his congregation when he claimed to have risen from the dead after five days. Ejikeme claimed he was certified dead by a hospital and taken to mortuary from where he resurrected.

The vehicle of his resurrection, claimed Ejikeme, was one Victor Onukoga a.k.a. Daddy Hezekiah, founder of Living Christ Mission, Umuahia.

A year later, one Daniel Ekechukwu, pastor of Onitsha-based Power Chapel Evangelical Ministry, became the darling of television and print journalists, when he claimed to have been raised from the dead by Reinhard Bonkke, a famous German evangelist. Ekechukwu said he rose after his wife retrieved his corpse from the morgue and took it to Bonkke's crusade in Onitsha.

In gratitude, Ekechukwu renamed his church Dead International Outreach Ministry.

In Lagos, Temitope Joshua of the Synagogue of All Nations claims to have performed all kind of miracles. Last November, Joshua paraded Princess Sibusile Zwellithini, daughter of King Goodwill Zwellithini, King of South Africa's Zulu nation, as one of the beneficiaries of his miracles.

The Zulu Princess testified that she had been cured of epileptic seizures, which had defied medication and surgeries. As a mark of appreciation. The Zulu monarch travelled to Nigeria to thank Joshua and see his daughter who is now a trainee evangelist in Joshua's church.

Before Sibusile, many had testified to Joshua's healing powers. One of these was Jaco van der Westhuyzen, a South African rugby star.

Westhuyzen, who suffered a career-threatening ligament injury that needed surgery, was attracted to Joshua's Synagogue by one of Joshua's videos he saw in South Africa.

The rugby star told London's Observer Sport Monthly, OSM that he saw Joshua in the video, curing people with HIV, cancer and making the cripple walk.

"I was skeptical at first and I wasn't sure about the miracles. I read about them in the Bible but I thought: "Can this be true?" Still I decided not to have the operation and to take a leap of faith," Westhuyvzen told the London magazine.

The leap took him to Lagos where Joshua's healing hands set him free of the pains.

"Back home, I had another x-ray and it showed the ligament was fine. The doctor could not believe or explain it," the rugby player said.

Back home, Westhuyzen's spread Joshua's fame. In no time, he was back in Lagos with a friend, Ruber Kruger, another South African rugby star who had brain tumor. Kruger also claimed to have been completely healed.

Kruger's visit soon encouraged another South African sports star, Wium Bason. But Bason, who had terminal illness died shortly after returning home. According to Westhuyzen, Bason died "because he did not know the Lord as well as he should have." Nigeria's Dan Amokachi also sought the help of the Synagogue, a few years ago, following the career ruining injury that he sustained. Amokachi was never healed, as he failed all the medical tests in foreign clubs that invited him to play for them. His experience however did not diminish the thousands of miracle seekers coming to the Synagogue.

Today, with many foreigners seeking him, Joshua's Synagogue is akin to a popular tourist site.

Three years ago, during one of Chris Oyakhilome's sell-out crusades, one Gabriel Akabueze, a textile dealer went with request for a miraculous boom in his business. He claimed to have got one delivered by Oyakhilome's anointing.

Oyakhilome and other miracle healers claim to have powers over sterility unemployment, financial problems, ancestral curses, ailments and more.

For these, many see them as quick fixes to their afflictions.

Despite the various testimonies of supposed beneficiaries of these miracles, doubts persist. Dr. Utibe Ukim of Blue Cross Hospital, Ogba, Lagos, says the miracles are nothing but hoaxes.

"Honestly, all these claims about the efficacy or miracles are products of frustrations and a deliberate attempt to exploit ourselves.

Though I believe in the power of prayers in a hopeless situation, still, some lies are better left untold. Even Jesus didn't perform such miracles as weekly affairs," Ukim told TheNEWS.

Muyideen Ambali, medical director of Kusr Convalescent Home, Ojodu, Lagos, does not doubt God's healing powers but the claims of miracle working pastors. "I am a Muslim but I believe in miracles. Some cases are better treated with alternative methods. If the pastors say they cure AIDS, cancer and the rest, good luck to them. But that is if their claims are true." Dr. (Mrs.) Toyin Oloya of Detoy Maternity in Lagos says belief in miracles is purely a thing of the mind. "For instance if a person with cancer says he has been cured through miracles I won't disagree with him. If it is true that he had the ailment and he was cured; Glory be to God.

But I don't believe in some of these miracles myself. They make me sick with their claims," she said.

Doubts over the claims of miracle healers also come from the pulpit. Rev. Chris Okotie, founder of the Lagos-based Household of God, did not condemn all miracles but those performed by T.B Joshua. Three years ago, Okotie publicly accused Joshua of using demonic powers cloaked in Bible verses, to hoodwink unsuspecting Christians. He also accused Oyakhilome, Joshua's close friend, of the same.

Both denied the accusation.

Pastors who spoke with this magazine admit that some of the miracles are fraudulent. They, however, declined to identify which ones are real. "If you have read the scriptures well, you would have known that some will use powers other than God's and present such as God's. Those who are fake know themselves and God knows them. At the appropriate times, the lid will be blown off their tricks, said a pastor who pleaded anonymity.