The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed new details regarding the alleged criminal activities of Apostle Theophilus Ebonyi, the General Overseer of Faith on the Rock Ministry International. This disclosure was made in a statement posted on the commission’s Facebook page.
According to the statement, investigations conducted by the EFCC uncovered that Ebonyi acquired several properties with proceeds from his purported fraudulent dealings with his subscribers. These properties include a 23-room hotel, a pure water factory, two blocks of a primary school, a two-bungalow office at Nyanya-Gwandara, New Karu, Abuja, and a five-bedroom duplex at Karsana, Abuja. Additionally, he allegedly set up a live broadcast channel with studio equipment for his Theobarth Global Foundation using funds from his subscribers.
Ebonyi was initially arrested in 2023 by the EFCC for allegedly defrauding his church members and other Nigerians using fake grants from the Ford Foundation totaling N1,319,040,274.31.
The statement further revealed that Ebonyi deceived his victims by claiming that the Ford Foundation was offering a grant of $20 billion to assist the less-privileged in society. He allegedly convinced individuals and NGOs to subscribe as beneficiaries of the grant by paying for registration forms and clusters, with each subscriber paying N1.8 million. Through this scheme, Ebonyi purportedly amassed a total of N1,391,040,274.31 from innocent and unsuspecting Nigerians and NGOs across the country.
Investigations by the EFCC reportedly showed that the Ford Foundation had no association or agreement with Ebonyi, explicitly disclaiming any connection with him or his NGO. The commission has also traced five properties acquired by Ebonyi as proceeds of his criminal activities.
Despite his arrest, Ebonyi is allegedly still reaching out to his subscribers on social media platforms to promote his fraudulent grant scheme purportedly from the Ford Foundation.