Temitope Balogun Joshua, a frontline Nigerian preacher and televangelist, has died, family sources said.
Mr Joshua, the founder of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), died in Lagos on Saturday evening shortly after concluding a programme at his church, family sources who did not want to be quoted as an official statement was still being prepared to confirm his demise. He was 57.
The cause of death was not immediately disclosed to the medium but family sources said his remains had been deposited at the morgue and an autopsy would be performed forthwith.
Mr Joshua reigned for several decades as a fiery preacher on television, using his platform to attract a large number of Christians from across the world.
Emmanuel TV, run by Mr Joshua’s SCOAN, is one of Nigeria’s largest Christian broadcast stations, available worldwide via digital and terrestrial switches.
In 2014, his church was at the centre of a multi-national investigation following a section of his church headquarters in Lagos collapsed, leaving dozens killed and many more injured.
According to Wikipedia, Joshua was known for his popularity across Africa and Latin America and his social media presence with 3,500,000 fans on Facebook.
His YouTube channel, Emmanuel TV, had over 1,000,000 YouTube subscribers and was the world’s most viewed Christian ministry on the platform before it was suspended.
Born on June 12, 1963, he was a televangelist and philanthropist.
The cause of his death was unknown as at the time of this report.