Throwback as NDLEA Officer recounts arrest of TB Joshua for ‘dealing in drugs’ + video

Nigerian cleric, T. B. Joshua, has released a 20-year-old clip showing the “confession” of a man who claimed to be one of the officers who arrested him in 1996 on the accusation of drug dealing.
Yusuf Hassan, who hails from Adamawa State, said he worked with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency when an informant tipped them off that Joshua was dealing drugs within his church premises.
Storming The Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos with 18 “armed” officers and six soldiers, Yusuf recounted how the cleric was arrested and subsequently incarcerated for 13 days.
“On our way to the office, we asked him that – if he was a man of God, let him disappear,” Hassan reminisced, describing how the operatives all taunted the cleric en route to prison.
“Our officers destroyed a lot of things while searching for drugs – but we couldn’t find anything. On the 13th day he was released because nothing incriminating was found on him or with him,” Yusuf continued.
However, after Joshua’s innocence was established, Hassan revealed that calamity befell all involved in the operation.
“Among the officers that came to arrest TB Joshua, three of them are no longer alive. All 18 officers, except for myself, have been dismissed,” he revealed.
Yusuf himself said he was “on suspension” after a court case landed him in prison for 10 months.
“I want God to deliver me from the part I took in this arrest,” he concluded.
Joshua, looking youthful, is also seen in the clip thanking congregants for their support after his release from prison.
“When you count the blessings of God in your life, doubts will fly away,” he said in the video.
Joshua is not new to controversy.
He has been the subject of several accusations, most recently from an ex-worker at The SCOAN, Bisola Johnson, who claimed she was “raped”.
Johnson, however, confessed to mental instability in a previous video and was found to have defrauded a United States businessman, casting aspersions over her credibility.
“Nothing makes you better than your enemies when you respond to them. Leave the battle for God,” Joshua advised in a post on Facebook, whilst sharing the throwback clip.
Ihechukwu Njoku, a freelance Nigerian journalist, sent this piece to The Eagle Online.