The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has announced that it intends to arraign Apostle Theophilus Ebonyi, the General Overseer of Faith on the Rock Ministry International in Nasarawa State.
Ebonyi was apprehended on charges of defrauding both church members and others. It is alleged that he obtained money through fraudulent means by offering fake grants from the Ford Foundation. The total amount involved in this fraud is said to be N1,319,040,274.31.
In a live video on Monday evening, Ebonyi refuted claims of being arrested by the EFCC. He dismissed the allegations as rumours and false information.
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This was countered by the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, who said that Ebonyi had been released on bail after his arrest.
According to him, “Ebonyi was arrested for defrauding his victims by advertising an intervention project through his NGO (Theobarth Global Foundation), claiming that the Ford Foundation was offering a grant of $20,000,000 (twenty billion United States dollars) to assist the less-privileged.
“He allegedly beguiled victims to subscribe as beneficiaries by asking them to pay for registration forms, collecting N1,800,000 from each subscriber. Through this scheme, Ebonyi allegedly accumulated N1,391,040,274.31.”
An investigation by the EFCC revealed that the Ford Foundation had no involvement or relationship with Ebonyi.
