EFCC Arrests Pastor For N1.3bn Fake Grants And Money Laundering

Theophilus Oloche Ebonyi, the General Overseer of Faith On The Rock Ministry International, has been arrested by agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding Nigerians, including church members, out of N1, 319,040,274.31 (one billion three hundred and nineteen million, forty thousand, two hundred and seventy-four naira, thirty-one kobo), by using fictitious grants from the Ford Foundation.

In a statement released on Monday, February 5, 2024, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale said that Ebonyi was arrested for defrauding his victims, which included individuals, NGOs, and non-governmental organisations, by promoting an intervention project through his non-governmental organisation, Theobarth Global Foundation, and falsely claiming that the Ford Foundation was offering a grant of $20,000,000,000 (twenty billion US dollars) to help the less fortunate in society.

He is accused of tricking his victims into becoming recipients of the phoney grant by requesting payment for clusters and registration paperwork. The only amount required of each subscriber was N1,800,000 (one million, eight hundred thousand naira).

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Ebonyi is said to have made N1,391,040,274.31 via this agreement. He has NGOs all throughout the nation as well as naive and unwary Nigerians as subscribers.

The Ford Foundation has no agreement, grant, connection, or business with Ebonyi, according to EFCC investigations.

The Foundation made it clear that it had no connection whatsoever to him or his NGO. Five properties that he obtained as a result of his illicit activities have also been tracked down by the Commission.

It has been stated that Ebonyi continues to promote his fictitious Ford Foundation grant to his followers on various social media sites.

As soon as the investigations are over, he will be charged in court.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli