Just past noon on October 20, a Twitter user with the handle @ayoola_kelechi put out a series of tweets accusing the senior pastor of House on the Rock, Paul Adefarasin, of smashing the window of a danfo bus, inflicting injuries on the passengers inside.
“Inside traffic and this bus hit @pauladefarasin car and your esteemed pastor and religious father got down from his car and smashed the window of the bus involved, injuring passengers in the bus and threatening the driver,” the tweet said. “An unmitigated disgrace. What an experience.”
The tweet attracted thousands of comments and retweets, with some casting doubts on the narrative as there were no accompanying pictures or videos of Mr. Adefarasin smashing the window. @ayoola_kelechi had only posted pictures of the damaged bus, shards of glass and bloodied hands visible in the frames.
“No pictures or video of Pastor Paul Adefarasin or any of his aides at the scene,” @ONsogbu questioned. “Logical thinking should have told you that his aides will step out first before he does and calm the situation.”
However, a video of a man in tucked-in white shirt and red tie placating aggrieved occupants of the bus soon surfaced. Another Twitter user, @don_ugliee, who apparently was a passenger in the affected bus identified the man as Mr. Adefarasin’s personal assistant.
“We could not video the act immediately because of the initial shock we all experienced,” @don_ugliee wrote. “We got down from the bus, had to remove glass particles from our body and that from an elderly woman. We have his P.A here trying to calm the issue down.”
The incident occurred along the Lekki-Epe expressway.
As of the evening of December 21, neither Mr. Adefarasin or the House on The Rock, which describes itself as “a vibrant, multi-ethnic church, with over 7,000 worshipers on Sunday mornings and several daughter churches spread over Africa and Europe” had responded to the incident.
Anger on Twitter at Mr. Adefarasin’s alleged outburst centred on his status as a ‘man of God’. “Pastor Paul Adefarasin has no moral ground to stand on the pulpit to preach the Gospel if he does not stand and publicly apologise for what he did,” @novieverest said. “If he can’t humbly trace those individuals and apologise to them, he should change that place to a club.”
Mr. Adefarasin is one of the most powerful clergymen in Lagos. Every year, his church hosts The Experience, which has been billed as Africa’s largest music concert, attracting thousands of people to the Tafawa Balewa Square. But he has also been accused of political partisanship on the pulpit. In February, just before the presidential elections, Mr. Adefarasin said “Saul will come before David”. Some interpreted the parable as a prediction that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Lagos state governor accused of drug trafficking and identity theft, would prevail over Peter Obi, who was popular among young people. The pastor turned out to be right but his accusers are still livid.
“Paul Adefarasin did this? Well, I’m not surprised,” @MercyEgbai said. “What do you expect from a pastor that hobnobs with corrupt politicians.”
