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| Bishop Obi |
Bishop Giniko Obi, founder of Beloved Gideon Foundation,
based in Agbor, Delta State, with outreaches in Bayelsa, Onitsha, Lagos, Port
Harcourt, Abuja and Benin City, has been arrested for allegedly defrauding 30,000
worshippers.
Obi was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) Benin Zonal Office, for allegedly defrauding thousands of
people of various sums of money running into millions of naira, under the guise
of helping them “fight poverty.”
Obi, has however, denied any involvement in the fraud,
claiming that he was only, “doing the will of God by trying to help the people
fight poverty.”
According to him, it was his desire and God's will to see
people prosper, which led him into operating what appears to be a Ponzi Scheme.
Obi, who claims to be a consecrated Bishop, possessing a diploma in theology
explains thus: “We write books such as ‘24 Nuggets for Successful Living’, ‘36
Nuggets for Successful Living’, ‘48 Nuggets for Successful Living’. We organise
seminars and conferences on how to be successful. We tell the people to
subscribe to these publications. If you subscribe with N10, 800, we give you
N15, 000. If you subscribe with N18, 000, we give you N23, 000. I had about
30,000 subscribers and I was paying them.”
However, some of his victims who have continued to throng the
EFCC office, since his arrest, described him as a “fraud.”
One of them, Janet
Amaka Okafor, said the Bishop sold a dummy to them by claiming that he was from
the famous Gideons International, based in the United States.
She said: “He organised seminars in Agbor market that he was
from Gideons International and that their mission was to help eradicate poverty
in Nigeria. He told us that unlike in the past when Gideons International
distributed Bibles and Christian literatures, their mission now was to
eradicate poverty.”
On how she became a victim of the scheme, Okafor, 35, who
claims she has never participated in any ponzi scheme in the past, disclosed
that she fell for Obi’s tricks because the “Bishop” swore with the bible.
She added: "The Bishop knelt down and swore with the
Bible. He convinced us that he was from Texas, USA and we believed him. I
subscribed with N10, 800 and he paid me N15, 000. It was after this that he
engaged over 60 of us as canvassers. I brought many people including my
relations and friends. All together, they invested over N5 million.”
Another victim, Bessie Nwadibire, 67, said the Bishop was
very deceptive from the beginning.
Nwadibire, who said that she had been praying and hoping that
the Bishop would be made to refund her money, added: “When he came to the
market he gave drinks, and also gave some people money; as much as N50, 000,
saying the poverty rate in Nigeria was too high.”
Expressing gratitude that the EFCC has arrested the Bishop,
she continues: “Before he was arrested, we went into hiding, because all the
people who invested their money into the business through me threatened to kill
me unless I refund their money. The money is over N8, 000, 000.”
Another victim, Wisdom Aderemor, a civil servant based in
Agbor, who said she had to flee her home for fear of being attacked, described Obi
as “callous and evil.”
Obi explained that when he left Agbor for Lagos, his desire
was to expand his subscription base, but his subscribers were impatient.
"If they allow me to hold the conference in Lagos, I
would have paid them,” he insisted.
The suspect will soon be arraigned in court.
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