EFCC: Adeboye returned billions donated to RCCG after money was traced to crime

The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, says Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), ordered the return of a donation worth billions of naira after investigators found it came from financial crime.

Olukoyede told RCCG workers at a meeting held early on Saturday, ahead of the church's annual Holy Ghost Congress, that a member had given the money towards a church project. When the EFCC alerted the church, he said, Adeboye directed that the full amount be refunded within 24 hours.

He praised the response as an example of integrity. He did not name the donor, the project or the exact amount involved.

The EFCC chairman said he was worried about the number of church leaders linked to financial crime. He mentioned another church caught up in a Ponzi scheme whose leader, he said, at first refused to cooperate but later refunded a large sum when the commission threatened to go to court. He urged pastors to check the source of large gifts before accepting them, and warned against materialism and paying bribes for church positions.

Adeboye was reported as saying the RCCG would not protect any member caught in financial misconduct, and told pastors to keep their books clean.