Streams of Joy International, the church founded by Pastor Jerry Eze, has refunded N1,640,200 mistakenly transferred to an account linked to the church by a woman seeking to recover funds belonging to other people.
The refund came a day after Sandra Okpara, a single mother of two, posted a video appealing for help to trace the money after realising she had sent the funds to the wrong account.
Okpara said the money was not hers and that she was supposed to use it to settle payments to other people.
“This money is not my money. I cannot do offering of 1,640,200. Please help me trace the accounts,” she said in the video shared online on Friday.
Okpara said she had initially made a N1,000 transfer as an offering before attempting to send more than N1.6m to a Zenith Bank account.
According to her, she inadvertently selected the wrong beneficiary while making the second transfer.
“My hand just clicked that one. Before God and man, it was erroneous,” she said.
Okpara said she immediately sought help from her bank but was unable to retrieve the money.
“I went to Moniepoint; they lodged the complaint, but they were asking for a court order,” she said.
She said she subsequently tried to contact the church through its online prayer platform but was unable to establish direct contact, prompting her to make the video appeal.
Okpara said she did not notice the error immediately because she only checked the details after completing the transaction.
“I didn’t see it. I just made the transfer. After I did it, I had to open the receipt. I was screaming. I had to go to the toilet. I urinated. I came out. I looked at it that there was no hope,” she said.
Her video subsequently circulated widely on social media and attracted the attention of the church.
In a statement posted on X on Saturday, Streams of Joy International said it contacted Okpara after becoming aware of the video and began the process of verifying the transaction.
“We have transferred her money back to her,” the church said.
The church said it had not received any direct call, email, direct message or formal complaint from Okpara before the video was posted.
“Upon becoming aware of the video, we immediately attempted to contact her through the phone number provided and via direct message,” it said.
According to the church, Okpara responded to its outreach, after which the transaction was investigated and confirmed before the funds were returned.
The church also said its official communication channels remained available to members of the public who encounter erroneous transactions involving its accounts.
Confirming the refund, Okpara told PUNCH Online that she received the full amount.
“100 per cent,” she said when asked if the N1,640,200 had been returned.
She said a member of the church’s staff contacted her early Saturday morning, with the refund completed at about 6:22am.
“I had to do the video to push out for people to share it, and it happened. And to the glory of God, around 6.22 this morning, one of their staff member called me, and I was refunded,” she said.
Okpara stressed that her decision to make the appeal publicly was not intended to damage the reputation of the church or its founder.
“That’s the power of social media. It’s not because I want to do it to tarnish Pastor Jerry’s image,” she said.
