A Port Harcourt-based pastor, Gobari Maxwell,
of the Believers’ Love World Ministry aka
Christ Embassy Church was yesterday
arraigned before an Ikeja High Court for
allegedly defrauding one of his members,
Osazuwa Okungbowa, of N4.5 million. Maxwell,
who superintends over one of the satellite
churches led by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, was
said to have tricked Okungbowa into believing
that he would help him procure two plots of
land near the Port Harcourt Polytechnic, Bori
Camp.
A detective, Shedrach Ternenge Iyo, attached
to the Cyber- Crime Section of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told
the court that the commission received a
petition from the complainant sometime in
September 2013, alleging that the pastor
received N4.5 million from him through his
wife’s First Bank account in bid to buy two
plots of land.
Iyo, while being led in evidence by the
prosecution, A. A. Adebayo, said the accused
was not invited by the commission since he
couldn’t be reached through the phone but
was arrested in Port Harcourt and brought to
Lagos for proper investigation.
According to the charge sheet, Maxwell
allegedly committed the offence on June 12,
2012 at Ikeja Judicial Division by dishonestly
converting the said sum to his personal use.
He is facing a one-count charge of stealing
contrary to Section 258(a)(b) of the Criminal
Law of Lagos State, No. 11, 2011.
“During investigation, the agency sent a letter
to the two banks which were used for the
transaction; a First Bank account belonging to
the complainant’s wife and a Diamond Bank
account belonging to the pastor, requesting for
account statements. “When we received the
banks’ response, we analysed both accounts
and discovered that the sum transferred for the
land purchase was N3.8 million while
N700,000 was transferred as a loan to the
pastor,” the detective said.
Iyo, however, noted that Okungbowa made the
land payments in seven instalments through
his wife’s bank account from June24 to May
31, 2012 in the variations of N300,000 and
N500, 000 consecutively.
He added: “After volunteering a statement and
being read a caution, the pastor confessed to
have received the money but claimed he used
it to settle his elder brother’s hospital bills,
who was brought back to Nigeria from the
United States of America (USA) for treatment.”
When asked by the prosecution if the agency
visited the said land, Iyo said “we didn’t visit
the land since the accused had told us that
there was actually no land to visit and besides
the area was under grave crises”.
“The pastor told the commission that there is
no land and he didn’t have any specific land to
buy for him, beside the area he had promised
to purchase for him was already having
community fights,” the detective added.
Meanwhile, the defence counsel, V. I. P.
Nwana, objected to the statement of account
which was presented to be tendered as exhibit
by the prosecution, arguing that the witness
was not the maker of the said document and
therefore could not testify to its documentation
as exhibit.
Nwana argued that the detective was not a
bank operative and under the Evidence Act
could only give evidence to the said document
if the originator of the document was
permanently indisposed to tender it, which was
not the case.
Justice Kudirat Jose adjourned the matter till
April 13 and 14 for conducting a trial within
trial based on the admissibility of the
document and continuation of trial.
A Port Harcourt-based pastor, Gobari Maxwell,
of the Believers’ Love World Ministry aka
Christ Embassy Church was yesterday
arraigned before an Ikeja High Court for
allegedly defrauding one of his members,
Osazuwa Okungbowa, of N4.5 million. Maxwell,
who superintends over one of the satellite
churches led by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, was
said to have tricked Okungbowa into believing
that he would help him procure two plots of
land near the Port Harcourt Polytechnic, Bori
Camp.
A detective, Shedrach Ternenge Iyo, attached
to the Cyber- Crime Section of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told
the court that the commission received a
petition from the complainant sometime in
September 2013, alleging that the pastor
received N4.5 million from him through his
wife’s First Bank account in bid to buy two
plots of land.
Iyo, while being led in evidence by the
prosecution, A. A. Adebayo, said the accused
was not invited by the commission since he
couldn’t be reached through the phone but
was arrested in Port Harcourt and brought to
Lagos for proper investigation.
According to the charge sheet, Maxwell
allegedly committed the offence on June 12,
2012 at Ikeja Judicial Division by dishonestly
converting the said sum to his personal use.
He is facing a one-count charge of stealing
contrary to Section 258(a)(b) of the Criminal
Law of Lagos State, No. 11, 2011.
“During investigation, the agency sent a letter
to the two banks which were used for the
transaction; a First Bank account belonging to
the complainant’s wife and a Diamond Bank
account belonging to the pastor, requesting for
account statements. “When we received the
banks’ response, we analysed both accounts
and discovered that the sum transferred for the
land purchase was N3.8 million while
N700,000 was transferred as a loan to the
pastor,” the detective said.
Iyo, however, noted that Okungbowa made the
land payments in seven instalments through
his wife’s bank account from June24 to May
31, 2012 in the variations of N300,000 and
N500, 000 consecutively.
He added: “After volunteering a statement and
being read a caution, the pastor confessed to
have received the money but claimed he used
it to settle his elder brother’s hospital bills,
who was brought back to Nigeria from the
United States of America (USA) for treatment.”
When asked by the prosecution if the agency
visited the said land, Iyo said “we didn’t visit
the land since the accused had told us that
there was actually no land to visit and besides
the area was under grave crises”.
“The pastor told the commission that there is
no land and he didn’t have any specific land to
buy for him, beside the area he had promised
to purchase for him was already having
community fights,” the detective added.
Meanwhile, the defence counsel, V. I. P.
Nwana, objected to the statement of account
which was presented to be tendered as exhibit
by the prosecution, arguing that the witness
was not the maker of the said document and
therefore could not testify to its documentation
as exhibit.
Nwana argued that the detective was not a
bank operative and under the Evidence Act
could only give evidence to the said document
if the originator of the document was
permanently indisposed to tender it, which was
not the case.
Justice Kudirat Jose adjourned the matter till
April 13 and 14 for conducting a trial within
trial based on the admissibility of the
document and continuation of trial.
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