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How a Briton and his Nigerian accomplice used the plight of alleged kid witches in Akwa Ibom State to dupe the government, local and foreign donors of several billions of Naira

When Gary Foxcroft  and Sam Itauma produced the documentary entitled: ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children aired on the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, and Channel 4 of the United Kingdom, three years ago, the whole world was outraged. The outrage was as a result of the cruelty meted to the children who were accused of being witches.

As a result, many individuals, corporate bodies, nations and governments took decisive actions to curb the trend and doled out money to Foxcroft and Itauma’s organisations to assist the kids. But unknown to many donors, Foxcroft and Itauma are scammers who were abusing the opportunity and goodwill provided by the documentary to line their pockets. Sadly, the duo have turned the misfortune of the children into a fortune-making business, amassing wealth from unsuspecting donors under the guise of helping the ‘child witches.’ None of the kids had sufficiently benefited from the funds as they are being kept in a very parlous condition.

So far, they have collected over 10 million pounds (N2.6 billion). Documents available to Newswatch showed that between November 14, 2008, exactly two days after the documentary was first aired in London and April 2009, Foxcroft and his accomplice had collected 25,636 British pounds or N6.82 million from donations made online through his website, www.justgiving.com steppingstonesnigeria on behalf of Stepping Stones Nigeria, SSN, his non- governmental organisation, NGO, supposedly for the upkeep of the children in Akwa Ibom State. Records also show that the amount realised within six months after the documentary was first shown in UK was above their projected target of 20,000 pounds or N5.08 million.

By September 2009, Foxcroft’s Stepping Stones Nigeria whose UK headquarters is at 24 St Leonard’s House, Leonards Gate, Lancasters, had raked in 1.5 million pounds equivalent to N381 million in donations for the purpose of financing the kids in Itauma’s Child Right Rehabilitation Network, CRARN centre in Eket.

Within this period also, the documentary which was highly accepted had been aired in several television stations in England. Their goal was to take the documentary from continent to continent to create awareness on the plight of the witch kids and, in that process, generate more funds. So, between June 2, and 20, 2009, the documentary was aired in Adonai Broadcasting Network, Johannesburg, South Africa. The network is owned by Alph Lukau, a native of the Democratic Republic of  Congo, and Australia Broadcasting Network in Sydney.

While Foxcroft was globetrotting showing the documentary and swelling his account in the UK, Itauma was also receiving donations and grants in Nigeria through his domiciliary account in Zenith Bank and Oceanic Bank branches in Eket, Akwa Ibom State. For the past three years,  Foxcroft has successfully shielded its major donors from the public except the 20,000 pounds from Akwa Ibom State government and 30,000 pounds from a UK-based corporate organisation known as Nigerian Village Square, NVS. He has defied several requests to declare the exact money he has collected so far. Apart from individual donations made online through the Justgiving website, the only financial record of Foxcroft’s Stepping Stones Nigeria which Foxcroft has made public is the 2010 financial statement which he put total receipts for the year which ended April 30, 2010, at 486,905 pounds (N121.72 million). In the case of CRARN, even though there is no record of the total amount Itauma has collected so far in the past three years, investigations have revealed that he had received a substantial financial support from organisations like UNICEF Nigeria, Zenith Bank of Nigeria, Bristow Helicopters, staff of Mobil Technical Training Centre, Akwa Ibom Diaspora groups, Concerned Nigerian Citizens, Comic Relief, NAPTIP, Young Humanitarian Network, Nigerian Bikers’ Association, Africa Children Fund, Obala Foundation, Nigeria Child Organisation, Oron Cultural Troupe, DMB Creatives and First City Monument Bank, among others.

CRARN also got N10 million from Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom State governor, when he paid an unscheduled visit to the child centre in February 2010, after he was inundated with several appeals for financial support from Itauma. Newswatch gathered that when the governor went to the centre, he was amazed by the poor condition of the kids which he described as terrible and promptly donated the money for logistics support for the centre.

As at that time the governor made the donation to CRARN, Stepping Stones’ account as sourced from the internet and the Charity Commission of England, had exceeded two million pounds(N300 million), while that of CRARN was also in millions of Naira. Ironically, the children whose plight the two NGOs were using as a launch pad to fleece people around the world were living in a terrible condition. When Newswatch visited  the centre before the children were evacuated, by Akwa Ibom government, there was nothing to prove that even two percent of the funds realised by Stepping Stones and CRARN from donations and grants since the child witch issue came to the  limelight had been used to improve their lot.

Umoh Umoh, secretary of CRARN, told Newswatch that they had been receiving assistance from government, public-spirited people and charity organisations and that they spent more than N200, 000 monthly to cater for the children. What is also mindboggling is that despite the fact that the duo were working in union supposedly for the interest of the stigmatised kids, investigations had revealed that Foxcroft was not only swindling unsuspecting donors world wide but was also under cutting Itauma.

In the Memorandum of Understanding between Foxcroft and Itauma which was drafted by a certain Ben Ndede, a lawyer, in 2007, it was agreed that any money received by Foxcroft on behalf of CRARN should be promptly remitted. But he did not abide by the agreement.

 To date, Itauma cannot tell exactly how much Stepping Stones Nigeria collected as grants and donations in the past three years. He admitted that much last year when he said: “I do not have access to the funds as you may think. What we do here is basically for the kids. The advert on the internet is placed by Stepping Stones Nigeria which is the organisation that made the witchcraft issue to gain international attention. The money is donated into stepping Stones Nigeria account, we do not have free access to the account as it is believed,” he said.

When Foxcroft appeared on Channel 4 on November 16, 2009, he claimed that the total amount he had received as at then was 200, 000 pounds out of which he remitted 72, 000 pounds to CRARN for the upkeep of the children. But there is no record to show that. But Newswatch learnt that Itauma was not even aware of the 20,000 pounds Akwa Ibom State Government donated to Stepping Stones in 2006 during the administration of former governor Victor Attah and which Foxcroft claimed to have used to build a hostel and accommodation for the kids in the CRARN centre. Again, without the knowledge of Itauma, Foxcroft took two staff from CRARN to establish a parallel organisation like CRARN which he called Stepping Stones Nigeria Child Empowerment Foundation, SSNCEF. With the help of Leo Igwe, executive director of the Nigerian Humanist Movement and secretary of the Atheist in Nigeria, he was able to gather some indigent children which he quartered at the abandoned Qua River Hotel and the Eket Sports Stadium. Unlike the children at CRARN centre, the kids at Qua River Hotel which Stepping Stones claimed to have being taking care of were in very pitiable condition before government came to their rescue.

 It was also gathered that when women groups and missionary sisters from a Catholic church in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, paid a scheduled visit to CRARN in July 2010, to donate food items and clothings, a lady working for Stepping Stones intercepted them and took them to her office close to the stadium where they met a certain Lucky Umoh Inyang who said he was a director of the organisation. Inyang then took them to Qua River Hotel where abandoned children in the care of Stepping Stones were kept. One of the sisters on the trip was so moved by the poor condition of the children and exclaimed: “That is not the place we visited before.” She was referring to the CRARN centre.

Investigations have equally shown that when CNN visited the state on August 10, 2010, at the instance of Foxcroft, the team was taken and shown the abandoned children at Qua River Hotel kept by Foxcroft’s parallel NGO. The idea was to further project the plight of the kids to the world in furtherance of his drive for funds. Again, Itauma was kept in the dark.

The cold war between Foxcroft and Itauma which is said to revolve around accountability of funds was exposed on February 18, 2011, when the Briton terminated his partnership with CRARN. He claimed he took the decision because of CRARN’s unwillingness to uphold internationally held standards in child protection, accountability and transparency. Foxcroft’s decision did not go down well with Itauma and his reaction exposed the fact that Foxcroft’s activities were not in tandem with their agreement.

 According to Itauma, their agreement stipulated that each party should give a three-month notice before pulling out of the partnership. But Foxcroft had breached that agreement. Itauma also disclosed that Foxcroft had stopped assisting the centre long before his decision to severe ties with him.

Perhaps, worried that his scam has been exposed, Foxcroft recently placed a paid advertorial in a national daily in Nigeria to counter the allegations of fraud levelled against him by Akwa Ibom government. In that advertorial signed by Felicite Holman, chair of Trustees, Stepping Stones,  which was published on the August 6, 2011, edition of The Nation, Foxcroft admitted that his organisation received a total of 1.338 million pounds or N334.5 million in the past three years (2009-2011) and claimed to have spent 1.057 million pounds translating to more than N300 million on projects to improve the lives of the Nigerian children. He stated that the remaining funds are kept in their charity bank account for continued support of their partners in Nigeria.

Stepping Stones catalogued some of the projects and other overheads the declared money was spent on to include the purchase of land and vehicles to rescue and reunite children with their parents, construction of girls’ dormitory block, provision of capacity building through training of staff, provision of funding for CRARN for five years, payment of salaries of 26 staff and feeding and health care for 200 children. The SSN also claimed to have purchased a land and cleared it for the building of a new centre which it said was ongoing. It also said its model school had been funding 121 scholarship places at the school for indigent students; that it sunk two boreholes at its Bebor Model School; that it has a scholarship scheme supporting 40 children since 2010; that it has trained a total of 1,145 teachers from government schools  to fast-track literacy method known as jolly phonics, and equally used the funds to provide 40,000 work books free for its pupils and handbooks to 1,145 teachers in participating schools.

The bogus claim by Stepping Stones has further helped to strengthen the facts available that Foxcroft is a fraudster.  Newswatch investigations have revealed that all what Stepping Stones Nigeria, claimed to have done with the money he collected was false.

 For instance, SSN said it realised a total of 1.338 million pounds or N334.5 million out of which it claimed to have spent 1.057 million pounds or N264.25 million for projects and overhead but Newswatch gathered that between 2008 and 2011, SSN had realised more than three million pounds and to date, the amount it remitted to CRARN is not up to 60,000 pounds.

Foxcroft’s claim to have paid  26 staff of CRARN and more than 200 children in the past five years is also not true. Findings revealed that in the past five years, the staff strength at the centre  including Itauma’s wife, Elizabeth, who doubled as a teacher and matron, has never exceeded eight. In 2009, when Newswatch visited the centre, it had barely seven staff including teachers and administrative staff. Similarly, at no time within the period stated by SSN, has the centre up to 100 kids considering the dormitory space available then with not more than 10 double decker beds to conveniently cater for 40. Findings also revealed his claim that the SSN is running a scholarship scheme for 40 children and 121 scholarship places at Stepping Stones model school is not true. Akwa Ibom State government has been supporting the education of the kids in the centre through its free and compulsory education scheme which had been in place since 2009.

Similarly, Foxcroft falsely claimed that his organisation bought vehicles for the centre but investigations have proved otherwise. At the moment, the only place outside CRARN centre which SSN could show visible presence in Akwa Ibom State is a sparsely furnished two-room office at Clinic Road, Eket. He has neither bought any land nor cleared any to build a new centre as claimed in the advertorial.

At the UNICEF conference in Switzerland in 2009, where he presented a paper with the intention to solicit for more funds, he told the gathering that the 20,000 pounds donation he got from Akwa Ibom State government was used to build a hostel for the kids. He repeated this again through online interview with The News magazine last year that he got funds from Akwa Ibom State government in September 2006, to construct the CRARN school and accommodation block for the kids in November 2006.

 Again, investigations have revealed that Foxcroft’s claim that his NGO, Stepping Stones Nigeria, built a school block and accommodation block at the CRARN centre with the 20,000 pounds donation from Akwa Ibom State government is not true. The CRARN centre in Eket which was shut down by Godswill Akpabio has only one school block and two hostel blocks. Newswatch gathered that the only classroom block at the centre was built by Itauma in 1996, long before Foxcroft came in contact with him while the existing two hostel blocks were built with financial supports from Bristow Helicopter and UNICEF in 2003 and 2010, respectively.

Suomi Sakai, UNICEF country director in Nigeria, handed over the spacious hostel block with capacity to accommodate 100 kids to Itauma in September 2010. 

Investigations further revealed that Stepping Stones has a private school in Uquo, 12 kilometres from Eket, which is named Stepping Stones Model Charity School. The school which he established in 2006 has nothing to do with CRARN. He claims that 50 percent of the pupils attending the school are provided with scholarship which also takes care of books and uniform. Of the pupils on scholarship, he said that 25 percent of them are orphans. But Newswatch investigations have proved otherwise. The school is just like a normal private school without any schorlarship scheme in place for orphans.

In a statement announcing the termination of his partnership with CRARN, Foxcroft claimed that inspite of the severing of ties, he was still providing money for the payment of the staff salaries and the upkeep of the kids for three months. But Itauma had punctured this claim, saying Stepping Stones had since stopped providing financial support to CRARN long before he severed ties with his NGO.

Many people have expressed anger at the scam. Akpabio who had initially supported Foxcroft and Itauma with donations has turned his back against them. He accused the NGOs of exaggerating the child witch syndrome in the state for monetary gains. Aniekan Umanah, commissioner for information, Akwa Ibom State, described the activities of Stepping Stones Nigeria as a scam. “All the money they have used Akwa Ibom children to make is not commensurate with what they claimed to do for the children; they have nothing to show for it. Two million pounds is not a small amount of money. Stepping Stones Nigeria and its team of blackmailers should not use tar brush to paint Akwa Ibom black in the eyes of the world. They should stop advertising our children to the global media to make money. It’s a ruse; and we are tired of them.”

 Ndarake Bassey, a community leader in Eket, equally expressed his angst on the scam perpetuated by Foxcroft. He is bitter that a Briton would come here to hoodwink us by using our children to make money without anything to show for it in the live of the children. “Money has come in, yet there is no marked improvement in the lives of these children. Where is the school? Where is the health centre? Where are the trained counsellors? Where are the indicators to show that the money pumped into SSN and CRARN by the international community and private individuals have been spent to better the lives of these children? Instead, we learn that Gary has employed himself and his wife as paid directors of SSN and run a school for children in the state. Who regulates these NGOs and charities in Nigeria? Can Stepping Stones - based in the UK try this nonsense in the UK?,” he questioned.

After the documentary was aired, Victor Ukutt, legal counsel to Helen Ukpabio, Founder and General Overseer Liberty Gospel Ministries, had consistently maintained that the duo were fraudsters masquerading as child abuse advocates to extort money from people. Between November 2008 and 2010, Ukutt wrote more than 10 petitions to relevant bodies insisting that Foxcroft and Itauma were using the child centre in Akwa Ibom, as a scam. On March 27, 2009, he petitioned OFCOM of London, which is the United Kingdom broadcasting regulatory authority, to restrain Channel 4 and BBC from further broadcast of the documentary. In that petition, he complained that the documentary pirated some scenes of Ukpabio’s film. ‘End of the Wicked’

 On June 12, 2009, he  petitioned  Adonai Broadcasting Network of Johannesburg, and Akpabio on May 29, 2009, demanding for the ‘closure and seal off of the CRARN centre in Eket. It was on the strength of one of his petitions to the Inspector-General of Police in 2009, that Itauma and Foxcroft were using the child witch issue to extort money from unsuspecting people that the police from Akwa Ibom State command acting on the directives of Mike Okiro, former inspector-general of police, raided Itauma’s home in Ikot Afaha Idung Ukpa on July 3, 2009, to effect his arrest but he escaped.

Ukutt narrated to Newswatch how his investigations which took him to London, confirmed his assertion that the two NGOs were fraudulent.

“When the documentary was aired, portraying Helen Ukpabio as an evangelist who promoted the killing and torture of kids branded witches, I was surprised having known her for what she stands for. So I decided to go to England to find out whether Stepping Stones was registered or not. When I got to England, I went to the Charity Commission of England and Wales and it was there I discovered that it was registered as a Guarantee under Part B of the Company Act of England 1985, and that it was getting its funds through Justgiving.”

Ukutt explained that the benefit of registering a charity organisation with the Charity Commission is that you are entitled to four percent tax bonus for every pound and shilling you declare. What this translates into, is that Stepping Stones Nigeria promoted by Foxcroft and registered with the Commission as a grassroots charity organisation dedicated to supporting the rights of vulnerable and exploited children, was earning four percent bonus on the entire amount it declared at the commission.

Ukutt further explained that the information he got from the Charity Commission of England about Stepping Stones  Nigeria and findings at the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja, that CRARN was registered under Part C which deals with profit making organisations as against Part A which is for non-profit organisations strengthened his belief that Foxcroft and Itauma were using the CRARN centre in Eket for scam. However, his petition letter to Akpabio dated May 29, 2009, demanding the closure and sealing off of the Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network because it was used as a conduit for obtaining money by false pretenses by the duo of Itauma and Foxcroft may not have convinced the governor until Sunday Williams, the professed bishop in the documentary, who claimed to have killed 100 children, was arrested in 2010.

After his arrest, Williams made a confessional statement made available to Newswatch in which he denied killing any child and confessed that all that he said was a script from Itauma. “I never knew Itauma before. One day, I was staying in my house and somebody came and introduced himself as Sam Itauma. He came with a small girl and told me the girl was his relation who is possessed with witchcraft spirit and that if I could cast out the witchcraft spirit from her, he will bring more of such people to me on business arrangement of sharing whatever I would charge them. In fact, he was the one who introduced the idea of charging fees. He told me that this is business, that when he brings any customer or client to me, I should charge consulting fees of N30, 000 and N400, 000 as deliverance fee so that he could have a share from it.”

He said Itauma visited him the second time to intimate him that he would  be coming with some white men who were ready to interview him on camera and relay the interview on television free of charge and that they would be coming with children possessed with witchcraft spirits for deliverance. Williams said Itauma told  him to charge them ‘heavily when they come’ so that he would have his commission.

It was at the fourth visit that Itauma came with Foxcroft and his television crew to film Williams. However, Newswatch gathered that even as the ‘man of God’ followed Itauma’s instruction to demand N30, 000 consultation fee from Foxcroft, he only got six thousand Naira after he was filmed. Even at that low amount, we learnt Itauma collected four thousand Naira from Williams leaving him with only two thousand Naira. Williams said Itauma tongue-lashed him for collecting such a paltry sum from the white men even after he intimated him earlier that the white man (Foxcroft) came with ‘big money.’ Williams insisted that he only acted a part in the documentary. “All you saw on the documentary was a theatre set up and acted by Sam Itauma and the whiteman. In fact, Itauma asked me to say those things on the documentary so that they can play it to the whole world to attract customers and clients. I did not kill anybody.”

Newswatch gathered that it was this confession by Williams that made Akpabio to order investigations on the activities of Foxcroft and Itauma. The investigation confirmed Ukut’s allegation that they were scammers. It was because of this that the state Government declared them wanted. And Itauma fled the country last November, 2010, on the pretext that he was going to the United States for medical treatment.

What is worrisome is that Foxcroft has released another film: The fake prophet which was premiered in London last June. The film has the same story line on deprived children. Like in the controversial documentary, a website has been opened for those intending to watch the film to book their tickets online. The site is- the fake prophetmovie.eventbrite.com. That not withstanding, Ukutt told Newswatch that as at last September, Foxcroft was still moving about running the child witch film. He wondered on whose interest he was doing that given the fact that  government had shut down the CRARN centre in Eket and evacuated the kids and the ones in Qua River to Uyo and has taken charge of their upkeep. Ukutt is worried that inspite of the fact that Foxcroft has severed ties with Itauma’s CRARN since February this year, he is still going about soliciting for funds on behalf of the kids in Akwa Ibom State.

“These people are still moving around running the documentary, deceiving innocent members of the public and NGOs in order to collect money. That is my disappointment. As at September this year, they were still running the documentary in Finland. Now, the child witch centre has been closed, government is now in charge of their welfare, and Stepping Stones has severed ties with CRARN, why are you still going about collecting money in their name? For which purposes are you raising the funds. Where does this money ends up,” he queried. Ukut is disturbed that inspite of the glaring evidence of the fraudulent activities of Foxcroft and Itauma, the government has not taken any serious measure to check them. He wants both the state and federal  governments to liaise with the Interpol to get Foxcroft, Itauma and their accomplices Sophia Okonedo and Mar Garvans extradicted to Nigeria to face trial. He said he wrote to Aniekan Umanah, advising him to write to the chairman, National Films and Censors Board not to allow the new film Fake prophet to be approved for use in Nigeria, but doubted whether he had done that. He said the film portrays Akwa Ibom as a haven for witchcraft.

Newswatch findings have established the existence of isolated cases of stigmatisation and abuse of children accused of possessing witchcraft spirit as reported in the January 12, 2009, edition of this magazine which Foxcroft, Itauma and their foot soldiers had capitalised on to execute the scam. But Usoro Usoro, senior special assistant to Akpabio on print media, blamed the ugly development on the activities of some pastors and seers who fuelled the child witch saga in the state through their prophecy. He expressed the determination of the government to check the excesses of the pastors.

One of the measures Akpabio has put in place to check the child witch saga in the state is the Child Rights Law which was passed into law in December 2008, shortly after the sensational documentary was aired. The Act prohibits child labour which it includes hawking, using a child to beg for alms, domestic labour and child trafficking. It also prescribes an imprisonment term of 10 to 15 years for anyone accusing a child of witchcraft.

 The judicial panel instituted by  Akpabio on November 22, 2010, to investigate the extent of child witchcraft and related child abuse was another positive measure aimed at checking child abuse in the state. The panel was set up to investigate the fraudulent activities of  Foxcroft and Itauma who are currently on the wanted list of government. One of the recommendations of the panel was that the state government should curb the activities of NGOs like Stepping Stones Nigeria and Child Rehabilitation Network. The panel also recommended that efforts be made to recover all the money collected by Foxcroft and Itauma on behalf of the children at Itauma’s home and other such child centres. It was on the strength of the panel’s recommendation that the CRARN centre was sealed off and the children evacuated to government rehabilitation home in Uyo.

  But how did Foxcroft and Itauma meet to plot the scam?  Investigations revealed that Foxcroft came to Nigeria in 2003, to research on oil industry in Mobil Producing Nigeria, Eket, as part of the thesis for his Master’s degree programme under the University of Uyo and University of Lancaster student linkage programme. While in Eket, he lodged at Royalty Hotel along Eket-Oron Road and was later evicted from the hotel when he could no longer pay the bill. It was during his sojourn in Eket that he met Itauma who intimated him on the plight of the children. Not long after their meeting, they came up with the idea to do a documentary on the plight of the children. In their thinking, and rightly so, doing a documentary would not only project the good works of Itauma which was hitherto unknown to many outside Eket local government area of Akwa Ibom State  and environs, it would bring in financial support from Nigeria and the international community.

So, Foxcroft had to go back to the UK to facilitate the production of the documentary. As at that time, he had no money to even reconfirm his flight ticket back to the UK. Newswatch gathered that it was Itauma and his group that provided the money for his ticket. While in Britain, he developed the concept but lacked financial backing to carry on. So, he sold the documentary idea to Red Label films owned by the trio of Mag Gavans, Tracy McVeigh and Joost Van Der Valk.  Garvans then co-opted Marvin Tracey of the London Guardian of the UK and Sophia Okonedo, a Jewish-born Nigerian journalist and mobilised them for the  Akwa Ibom documentary.