A few days after the news broke, it did. And it has written several follow-up stories on it since then. That is their typical story about Nigerian churches. That is their bread and butter. They relish in it. A typical news feed for BBC and Nigeria churches looks like this.
Several Nigerian pastors started ministries at great personal sacrifices (ignore) Several Nigerian pastors have a rags to riches stories (ignore) Covenant University built by Bishop Oyedepo of Living Faith Ministries now ranks one of the top 10 in Africa, and one of the top 800 in the world (ignore) Winners Chapel, Otta/Covenant University has had uninterrupted electricity for about 25 years (ignore) There is no sex for grade scandal in Covenant University (ignore) The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG)has been the fastest-growing church in the world for the past 20 years or so (ignore), The RRCG annual convention is the largest gathering of Christians on earth (about 5 million annually). (ignore) It has been the largest gathering of Christians on earth continuously for about 20 years (ignore) Popular Nigerian pastor accused of rape (use, promote to front page) Popular Nigerian pastor accused of staging fake miracles (use) Nigerian pastors accused of using church money for personal purposes (use) The Deeper Life Bible Church has been teaching holiness and repentance since 1973 (ignore) There has been no scandal involving Deeper Life Bible Church since ministry started in 1973 (ignore) Deeper Life Bible Church University (Anchor University) does not have a sex for grade scandal (ignore) Bishop Oyedepo survives plane crash (ignore) Unwritten rule: If the news is positive and uplifting, (ignore) if it is negative, scandalous (use). If it is extremely bad (promote to the front page, run several follow up articles)
BBC is pro-Islam. While BBC is filled with stories of Nigerian pastors it considers scams, it hardly has stories on Moslems, Sheiks, Imams, or Mosques. While the alleged rape assault against COZA pastor, Biodun Fatoyinbo has been run many times in BBC, it is eerily silent on rampant child marriages in Northern Nigeria. The North of the country is filled with adults, some as old as 50 or 60, marrying children as young 12 years old. Many young girls are abducted and sold into prostitution particularly around the Nigerian northern borders of Cameroon, Benin, and Niger. BBC is afraid to write stories about Moslems or Islam. Boko Haram is allegedly holding thousands of girls and women as sex slaves. BBC will rather write about some Nigerian soldiers sexually abusing women in IDP camps. It will never write that without the army, which pinned Boko Haram to the fringes of Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad region, the entire North East would have collapsed, and possibly the rest of the country. The BBC will never write about the plights of the thousands of widows and orphans left behind by soldiers, police, and other security outfits. It will rather write about how the army violates human rights or arrest innocent youths in the North East. While pretending to reform our institutions, they rubbish and humiliate them.
Read More: Bittersweet: the BBC sex for grade documentary in Nigerian Universities
While BBC is busy writing about supposedly fake pastors in Nigeria, it is silent on the spread of Islam in the UK. There are more Sharia courts in the UK than in some Middle East countries according to some reports. The Moslem population in London now is put at around 52% with an equally high number in several British cities. (Sorry to our Nigerian Moslems. They don’t want you). They prefer Moslems from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and to some extent, North Africa. While there is a lot of data showing a high number of Moslems from Asia in the UK, there is very little evidence to show that the number of Moslems from West Africa has increased in the last 20 years.
The largest number of Africans in the UK are Nigerians, and a very large percentage of that number are Yoruba. Several churches have been converted into Mosques. It took a brave American NGO, Gatestone Institute to alert the world in a famous news story titled: “500 churches closed, 423 Mosques replaced them”. Churches are being converted to apartment buildings, parks, restaurants. BBC is eerily silent on the decline of Christianity in the UK. Guess who is working hard to make sure Christianity does not disappear from Great Britain? Christians from Nigeria, South Korea, and a few other countries.
RCCG alone has planted over 600 churches in the UK in the last 25 years to counter the loss. Add to that Winners Chapel, Deeper Life, and so many other Nigerian churches in the UK. It is important to add that most of the churches are small and mostly attended by Africans. BBC routinely ignores the obvious fact: Christianity will be in a far worse situation in the UK without Nigerian/African churches. I am aware of a group of Nigerians in the UK, who have been praying for 24 hours daily, for the past 3 years non-stop, so that Christianity may not die out completely in the UK. I became aware of this about 2 years ago. I am not certain, if the prayer is still going on, or if it’s been replaced with another program. Where is BBC as Christianity declines continuously? Nowhere. They are too busy writing about Nigerian pastors, tithes and offerings, and scandals, real or imaginary. BBC seems not to be aware that some of the so-called pastors involved in these scandals are not real pastors. They are self-appointed, self-anointed, self-promoted people, many without any type of theological training, mentorship or supervision. Some of them were sent by Satan to cause confusion in the church. Many started churches because they had no job or money.
I will like to conclude this piece with a small story. When growing up in South-West Nigeria, my brother and I used to listen to BBC news. We considered BBC news service some type of gospel truth. Whatever news items we heard from BBC, we believed 100%. We considered listening to the BBC as some type of status symbol. We admired London, BBC, Premier League, anything British generally. But as times went by, we realized that BBC was neither the gospel nor the truth. It is some type of narrative from a certain perspective. This perspective usually casts Africa and Africans in a negative manner. And one more thing. We also realized that BBC is very big in Africa, but not necessarily in Europe or other western nations. Actually, Nigeria is the largest listenership for BBC news service per country, and Africa is the largest continent for listenership per continent. I have not listened to BBC or watch news items from the BBC for many years now. I do not believe the BBC anymore. BBC humiliates us while pretending to help us. Occasionally, I read about soccer in BBC Sports online, just to catch some Premier League news or find out about African soccer players in various clubs in Europe. I now see the BBC very differently from when I was growing up. BBC is a big pretender. They are biased against Africa and Africans. What is my take on the BBC sex scandal on West African universities? A good report from an impure heart. It is like a gift from an enemy. It is like a Greek gift that is good on one side and causes harm on the other side. I accept it with one hand. I reject it with the other hand.
Concluded
Oladimeji wrote from New York, USA
END
Elijah Oladimeji’s article actually confirms the conspiracy of the British imperialists against the Nigerian state. This conspiracy unbeknownst to the unwary has brought the country on her knees. The manifestation of this conspiracy is through their media as exposed by the writer. BBC of course will feign ignorance about the many exploits of Nigerians in the western world in academia, engineering, business etc while losing sight of the big, big problem in Britain. For me, we have to write our own stories, blow our own trumpets, celebrate our own successes and tell accurately our own shortcomings. This is what the rest of the world is doing. BBC or SKY NEWS or even CNN will not do it accurately for several other reasons than we will do it ourselves.
Just to end this response by thanking Elijah Oladimeji for this piece and for telling us in his words that the BBC documentary was ” a good report from an impure heart”.