How A 55-Year-Old General Overseer Landed In Jail Over Fake Prophecy, N1.7m Crypto Fraud

April 8, 2022
45 Views

 

File photo

Nelson Foni, a 55-year-old pastor and General Overseer, was arraigned at a Kafanchan Magistrates’ Court in Kaduna State on Friday for giving fake prophesy and duping a congregant, Edith Emmanuel, of N1.7 million.

The cleric faced a three-count charge of extortion, criminal breach of trust and cheating, punishable by the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017.

State counsel, Alheri Daudu, told the court that the congregant and her daughter attended a church programme at Gathsamen Prayer Ministry, Kafanchan, in 2016 where Foni was the General Overseer.

Foni singled out the congregant’s daughter and declared that God revealed to him that she would study abroad and not in Nigeria.

He consequently asked the congregant to invite her husband to the ministry, where he repeated the “revelation”.

The couple told Foni that they lacked the resources to fund overseas study and he advised that they should raise N1.7m which he would invest in crypto currency on their behalf and they obliged.

The cleric also told the couple that the return on investment in the crypto currency would be more than enough to cover for the daughter’s school fees and flight ticket.

However, each time the couple went to Foni to inquire about the return on investment, the cleric would browse on his laptop and declare that the investment had not matured.

The matter was reported at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Kafanchan.

When the charges were read to Foni, he pleaded not guilty.

His defence counsel, Amba Adze, applied for bail, to which the state counsel objected on the ground that if granted, Foni might defraud more unsuspecting individuals.

In his ruling, presiding Magistrate Michael Bawa granted the defendant bail in the sum of N1million and a surety in like sum.

Bawa ruled that the surety must be a village head with at least N1 million deposit in his bank account and must produce the bank statement.

In the alternative, Foni would be remanded at the Kafanchan Correctional Centre, pending the next hearing on April 11. 

You may be interested

Southwest APC UK inaugurates newly elected executives
News
1 views
News
1 views

Southwest APC UK inaugurates newly elected executives

Webby - March 27, 2024

As Taiwo emerges as chairman The South West All Progressives Congress (APC) United Kingdom, has inaugurated a new caucus of…

The untold story why the army boys struck in 1966
News
2 views
News
2 views

The untold story why the army boys struck in 1966

Webby - March 27, 2024

The untold story why the army boys struck in 1966: Nigeria will continue to make motions without movement and stumble…

Abia, good governance and human rights
News
2 views
News
2 views

Abia, good governance and human rights

Webby - March 27, 2024

As a philosopher, one statement that makes so much sense to me is that which says that ‘the first step…

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.