Nigerian pastor appears in court for fraud

A Nigerian evangelist, Ikechukwu Okoye, who allegedly defrauded two United States evangelists of 15,000 dollars, has been remanded by a Madina Magistrate Court to reappear on 23 December.

Chief Inspector Agnes Hamenoo said Okoye, a member of the Holy Ghost Outreach Ministry in Ghana, was a close friend of Evangelist Erline Grant, founder of the Ministry. Okoye wrote to Grant, who heads the main branch of the Holy Ghost Outreach Ministry based in Trinidad in the United States asking for financial assistance.

In August he faxed a letter to Evangelist Grant informing her that his late father, an Italian, had left 2.7 million dollars in an Expro Account. He wanted her to assist him with 15,000 dollars for payment of taxes to the Ghana Government to enable transfer of the said amount into the Ministry's account based in Cape Coast.

On 11 December Evangelist Grant arrived in the country with one Bishop Leroy Creese, an evangelist from New York. Okoye and three other accomplices took them to Brazz Hotel at Haatso and collected 15,000 dollars from them.

Okoye and his accomplices requested for another 10,000 dollars and it was to be given to them on 13 December at the same hotel. But the two foreign evangelists got a hint that the Nigerians were fraudsters and alerted the police. Okoye was arrested when he showed up but his accomplices got away.