How Bishop Jonas Lured Investors With Sermons in ₦178m Fraud Case – Witness

By Sola Ojo

A prosecution witness, Sulaiman Kwalla, on Tuesday, July 22, told a Federal High Court sitting in Jos, Plateau State, how Bishop Katung Jonas allegedly used his religious influence and televised sermons to lure unsuspecting members of the public, including himself and his wife, into investing in a fraudulent cooperative scheme.

Kwalla, who testified as the first prosecution witness (PW1), appeared before Justice Sharon T. Ishaya in the ongoing trial of Bishop Jonas and Okewole Dayo, chairman and secretary of Covenant Fadama Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, Jos, respectively.

The two are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 23-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretences to the tune of ₦178,885,000.

Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Ibrahim Buba, Kwalla recounted how he invested ₦200,000 of his personal funds and an additional ₦100,000 on behalf of his wife, Halima Ibrahim Danyaro, after watching promotional adverts of the cooperative society on Plateau Radio Television Corporation (PRTV).

The adverts, he said, usually aired after Bishop Jonas’ sermons and contained appeals by the preacher urging viewers to invest in the scheme, promising a 10 per cent monthly return.

“Based on the Bishop’s religious standing and the promise of a 10 percent monthly return, I was convinced it was a genuine investment,” Kwalla testified.

He added that he completed the required registration forms and made the payments to Dadin Kowa Microfinance Bank, said to be owned by the cooperative. He received official receipts for both transactions.

However, Kwalla told the court that neither he, his wife, nor other subscribers received the promised dividends by the end of the first month. Upon visiting the cooperative’s office on Secretariat Road in Jos, he met a crowd of agitated investors who also complained about not receiving any returns.

He said the situation escalated on June 4, 2012, when a large crowd of angry investors stormed the office demanding refunds.

The tension prompted a police intervention, during which Dayo, the second defendant, was evacuated for his safety and later detained by the Plateau State Police Command.

Kwalla also testified that during a subsequent meeting between the investors, the police, and Bishop Katung, the cleric admitted to being the chairman of the cooperative society and promised to begin refunds by July 2012. However, the promise was never fulfilled.

“At every turn, there were new excuses,” Kwalla told the court. “Eventually, Bishop Katung introduced a consultancy firm, Lanre Global Concept, claiming it would help recover our funds from abroad.

“We rejected this offer, having never dealt with the firm. Later, he introduced another scheme, Global View, where he admitted channelling cooperative funds into forex trading. All these promises turned out to be fraudulent,” he testified.

After multiple failed repayment attempts, the investors, through their lawyer, Solomon Dalung, petitioned the EFCC, alleging fraud exceeding ₦8 billion and affecting at least 44,000 investors, Kwalla disclosed.

He told the court that while his personal investment of ₦200,000 was eventually refunded through an official of the cooperative society, his wife’s ₦100,000 remains unreturned.

Efforts by the prosecution counsel to tender the payment receipts and the petition to the EFCC were objected to by defence counsels C.I. Nwogbo and G.G. Achi, representing the first and second defendants, respectively.

They argued that the receipt issued in the name of Kwalla’s wife could not be admitted since she was not the one testifying and was not present in court.

They also claimed that the petition was inadmissible for lacking proper certification as required by Section 104 of the Evidence Act and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).

Buba countered that sufficient foundation had been laid by the witness to show that his wife was a victim, and that the receipt was a relevant document issued by the cooperative society itself.

He also argued that the petition was an original document and thus did not require certification.

Justice Ishaya, however, adjourned the matter to Wednesday, July 23, 2025, for ruling on the admissibility of the documents and continuation of trial.

(The Sun)