TB Joshua's Church Branch Pastor: Church Should Not Be Blamed For Stampede

A senior pastor of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) on the Spintex Road in Accra, Rev. Sam Mc-Caanan has said that the church should not be blamed for last Sunday�s stampede that killed four (4) people and leaving about thirty (30) seriously injured. According to him, assumptions that the sprinkling of the �holy water� caused the stampede are false since the church did not invite the general public for its normal Sunday service. �Everything happened based on speculating reasons. People anticipating something because if it happened last week Sunday in Lagos, the headquarters, all probability within the week, it could have extended to neighboring countries such as Ghana. So it was based to that speculation that thousands trooped the church premises. ��It was a speculation because it was unannounced. If I don�t tell you I�m going to do something and you think I�m going to do it, it is speculating because in law court I can defend myself that I didn�t say it. I didn�t tell you I am going to do it so you can�t put it to me that I said so. So it�s based on speculations purely,� Rev Sam Mc-Caanan told JOY NEWS in an interview. Four Christians were reported to have died on Sunday May 19, 2013 during a stampede at T. B Joshua�s Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), at the Spintex Road. The stampede started when the huge congregation at the Church rushed for the holy water from Prophet T. B Joshua who was not even in the country at that moment. Nonetheless, the senior pastor said he was shocked to have seen such a huge congregation at the church on a normal Sunday service but nothing could have been done at that moment to control the crowd until the Ghana Police Service ordered the church to stop the service after the four persons were reported to have died. �The number was overwhelming based on the same speculation because naturally, Emmanuel TV has become a house hold media in Ghana and everybody watches that and they (people) saw how it was introduced and they saw the effect of the introduction of the holy water. ��The number of miracles and deliverances that took place, so everybody was anticipating that if anything at all, this is one thing I need. This tells that people have problems in this country and if they know where their solutions will come from, they (people) will pay the price. That was the kind of speculative price they were paying. ��there is nowhere that we (SCOAN) announced that we are going to distribute anointing water. Our usual 15,000 people on Sunday just skyrocketed to 45,000 and above and that caused the problem,� he explained.