EFCC Arrests General Overseer, Theophilus Ebonyi, Over N1.3bn Fraud
The General Overseer of Faith on the Rock Ministry International, Theophilus Ebonyi, purportedly arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of N1.3 billion fraud, has denied the arrest.
Ebonyi, in a brief video shared on his Facebook page on Monday, minutes after news of his alleged arrest surfaced, described his arrest as “rumour” and “false” information circulated by bloggers.
The EFCC had earlier shared news of the pastor’s arrest, along with his mugshot, on its verified handle, @officialEFCC, on Monday.
The anti-graft agency explained that the general overseer was nabbed for allegedly defrauding church members and others through fake grants from the Ford Foundation totaling N1,319,040,274.31.
According to the statement released by the EFCC, Ebonyi was arrested for defrauding victims, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals, by advertising an intervention project through his NGO, Theobarth Global Foundation.
He claimed that the Ford Foundation was offering a grant of $20,000,000 and deceived victims into subscribing as beneficiaries of the phony grant by asking them to pay for registration forms and clusters, each subscriber paying N1,800,000.
Through this scheme, Ebonyi allegedly raked in N1,391,040,274.31.The victims, according to the EFCC, were innocent and unsuspecting Nigerians and NGOs across the country.
Investigations by the EFCC revealed that the Ford Foundation had no arrangement, grant, relationship, or business with Ebonyi and disclaimed him and his NGO.Reacting via Facebook video, Ebonyi denied being arrested by the anti-graft agency or any other organization, accusing bloggers of using his picture to chase clout.
However, when contacted for confirmation, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, refuted Ebonyi’s claim, stating that the pastor had been released on bail after his arrest.
Oyewale clarified that the date of Ebonyi’s arrest was not mentioned in the statement and that he had been arrested over a long period. The spokesperson also highlighted that Ebonyi was still reaching out to his victims through various social media platforms to deceive them.Credit: X@OfficialEfcc