Court jails ‘prophet’ who defrauded church members of N136m

A state high court in Enugu State has convicted and sentenced a self-acclaimed prophet, Godwin Ajuluchukwucheya, to one-year imprisonment for defrauding his church members of N136.4 million.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuted Mr Ajuluchukwucheya, according to a statement by the commission’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, on Friday.

Mr Oyewale said Mr Ajuluchukwucheya, popularly known as Prophet Sunday Koboko, was prosecuted on a two-count charge of obtaining by false pretence and stealing to the tune of N136.4 million.

He said the self-acclaimed prophet was convicted when he was arraigned before the trial judge Justice H. O. Eya, but did not mention the date.

Count one of the charges alleged that Mr Ajuluchukwucheya with intent to defraud N136.4 million had, between 2023 to February 2025 in Enugu, falsely announced to his church members that he won N30 billion in a lotto game and then asked the members to contribute financially to him in order to receive dividends from the N30 billion.

The prosecution told the court that the offence is contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.

Mr Ajuluchukwucheya pleaded guilty to the charges when they were read to him.

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In view of his guilty plea, counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Ajobiewe, prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.

Delivering judgement, Justice Eya convicted and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment with an option of N500, 000 fine.

The court also ordered that “the convict’s landed property covered by Customary Certificate of Occupancy, dated 25th July 1989, registered as No. 92 at page 92 in Volume 512 of the Land Registry, Enugu, shall be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the EFCC and shall be sold and the proceeds used as restitution of the victims of the offence.”

How it started

Mr Oyewale said the arrest and prosecution of Mr Ajuluchukwucheya followed petitions from Nigerians who were victims of the convict’s fake miracle scandal.

The spokesperson said that during the EFCC investigations, members of Mr Ajuluchukwucheya’s church started “flooding” the EFCC office in Enugu with claims of how they were defrauded by the self-acclaimed prophet.

He said the investigations by the anti-graft agency showed that Mr Ajuluchukwucheya’s modus operandi was luring his church members into buying his “products” for prosperity.

Mr Oyewale said the prosperity products which the ‘prophet’ allegedly sold to his church members included “miracle stickers,” “spiritual dragons” and “holy ghost thunder.”

Giving an instance of the fraud, the EFCC spokesman said one of the petitioners, Nkiruka Ngene, said the convict presented himself as a true man of God and lured her into believing that he had the power to raise her late husband from death.

ALSO READ: How ‘prophet’ defrauded church members of N70m via fake miracles – EFCC

Mrs Ngene, according to the statement, further said she was also lured into paying for a fraudulent scheme where members would benefit according to their investments.

The petitioner said she paid a total of N6.7 million to the convict for the fraudulent scheme and for the resurrection of her late husband.

Another petitioner, Okey Uwakwe, said Mr Ajuluchukwucheya presented himself as a “true man of God, capable of luring his brother who travelled outside the country since 1997 to return home.

The petitioner also said he paid N6.2 million to Mr Ajuluchukwucheya for some spiritual works and that the self-acclaimed prophet equally deceived him into believing that he had the power to make his sister-in-law who had been childless for over 15 years to conceive for which he separately paid N3.2 million.