Prevalent in Nigeria today is the rapid spread of Pentecostalism. Its untaxed churches worth hundreds of millions of dollars form an unregulated yet influential economy. 'Church' is big business, but it is also political. The rise of the mega-church and its mega-pastor highlights the exponential influence of Pentecostal leaders within Nigeria's socio-political space, blurring the perceived dichotomy of the religious and the secular. Religious discourse is drawn upon to legitimize political action, and political candidates have been drawn from the growing pool of prominent religious leaders – as is the case of the country's current Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. Media technologies play an essential role in this development. Broadcasts of religious services and practices have become fixtures of the Pentecostal movement, growing congregations - and consequently pastoral influence - beyond the borders of Nigeria.
This paper seeks to explore the role of the pastor as an emergent socio-political leader. To do this, it deconstructs the discourse found in broadcast miracle sessions. These are sessions where people with physical afflictions and social and economic problems come to church to be cured through a miracle that the pastor bestows on them. The sessions have become a focal point of the Pentecostal' Health and Wealth' doctrine. While Agazue (2013), refers to these broadcast practices as 'miracle marketing', in reference to the increasing commercialization of church activities in Nigeria, this paper reconceptualizes the term to highlight the social currency of these sessions and their use in the negotiation of power. Leaning on the scholarship of Asad (2009), the paper frames these sessions as forms of discourse that embed, negotiate, and potentially transform systems and relations of power. The paper utilizes a Critical Discourse Analysis approach to deconstruct three miracle-sessions carried out by the influential pastor TB Joshua. By doing so, it aims to make clear the construction and enactment of power and social relations within a Nigerian Pentecostal community. Furthermore, it aims to present a more nuanced understanding of the subjectivities and the narratives of truth that are legitimated, and those that are discredited in the process.