- Witness says sermons lured thousands into fraudulent investment
- EFCC prosecuting Bishop and accomplice over N178 million fraud
- Victims include witness and his wife, many still unpaid
A Federal High Court sitting in Jos has heard startling revelations on how a popular Bishop allegedly exploited his religious influence to defraud over 44,000 Nigerians of nearly N179 million through a fake cooperative scheme.
Eko Hot Blog reports that on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, the first prosecution witness, Sulaiman Kwalla, told Justice Sharon T. Ishaya that Bishop Katung Jonas used his sermons and TV broadcasts to convince thousands to invest in the Covenant Fadama Multi-purpose Cooperative Society.
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Kwalla revealed he invested N200,000 of his own money and another N100,000 for his wife after seeing promotional content on PRTV, which aired immediately after Bishop Jonas’ sermons.
He stated that investors were promised a 10% monthly return, and payments were made through Dadin Kowa Microfinance Bank with official receipts issued.
However, by the end of the first month, no returns were received by him, his wife, or any of the thousands of investors.
Kwalla said when he visited the society’s office in Jos, he met a large crowd of angry victims demanding refunds.
The witness recounted a chaotic scene on June 4, 2012, where armed police had to evacuate the cooperative’s secretary, Okewole Dayo, from the building.
Dayo was later detained by the Plateau State Police Command following the protests from enraged investors.
Kwalla explained that a meeting was held involving the police, Bishop Jonas and the aggrieved investors to resolve the crisis.
During the meeting, Bishop Jonas admitted to chairing the cooperative and promised to begin refunds from July 2012, a promise he never fulfilled.
Kwalla said Jonas introduced a new firm, Lanre Global Concept, claiming it would help recover funds from overseas, which the investors rejected.
He later offered another solution, a forex-based initiative named Global View, admitting that cooperative funds had been diverted into currency trading.
According to Kwalla, all of Bishop Jonas’ promises turned out to be deceitful and yielded no results.
Eventually, the investors engaged lawyer Solomon Dalung to petition the EFCC, reporting that over N8 billion was lost by 44,000 individuals.
While Kwalla confirmed that his N200,000 was later refunded, his wife’s N100,000 remains unreturned to date.
The EFCC is prosecuting Bishop Jonas and Dayo on 23 counts of fraud involving false pretences and financial deceit.
