by Ndudi Anyim
A 33-year-old man, Macdonald Iwara, has been arrested and arraigned at a Yaba Magistrate Court, Lagos State, for allegedly impersonating the General Overseer of a Our Daily Manna Church, Bishop Chris Kwakpovwe.
Iwara also reportedly defrauded some unsuspecting members of the church to the tune of over over N500,000.
It was gathered that Iwara had created a fictitious Facebook account with the Bishop’s identity and diverted followers from the verified Facebook page of the Bishop to the ‘fake page’.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused, said to be a former staff of the church, was relieved of his job in 2017, after he was found culpable of stealing proceeds from the sales of books published by the Bishop.
Iwara had, however, proceeded to create the fake Facebook account which he operated between 2017 and December 2020. He reportedly diverted online tithes, offerings and seeds from the church’s Zenith Bank account, to a GTB account with the name ‘Manner Power’.
It was after complaints was made to the church authority by some followers that operatives of the X-Squad Unit, Zone 2 Police Command, were alerted and the suspect was tracked and arrested.
A source close to Bishop Kwakpovwe, who simply identified himself as Mr. Osita, disclosed that Iwara’s action brought the church to disrepute as some followers labelled the church activity as ‘fraudulent’, not knowing they followed the fake Facebook page.
“The accused succeeded in convincing followers that the Zenith Bank account of the church had been compromised, and diverted payments of seeds, tithes and offerings to a GTB account number, with the name Manner Power. We feel bad about this development but we are fled he has been arrested and arraigned, ”
The Magistrate, Mrs. A.O. Adedayo, who heard the four-count charge against Iwara, ordered his remand in prison pending when he is able to meet a bail term of N1 million, with two sureties.
The four counts against Iwara read thus:
Count one read: “ That you Macdonald Richard Iwara between 2017 to December 2020 at Ikota Road, Lagos in the Lagos Magisterial District by false pretence did unlawfully and fraudulently obtain the sum of N500,000only from followed of our Daily Manna Church under the pretence by collecting offering, church seed, and tithe in the name of Our Daily Manna Church and converted same Monet to your own use and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 314(a)(b) (2) and (3) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.”
Count II: “ That you Macdonald Richard Iwara on the same date and place in the aforesaid Magisterial District did steal the sum of N500,000 property of Our Daily Manna Church being money you fraudulently and illegally converted from the church account to a mobile wallet account you created for yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to scetion 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.”
Count III said: “ That you Macdonald Richard Iwara on the same date and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did impersonate yourself as Our Daily Manna Church General Overseer, Bishop Chris Kwakpovwe and converted the church offering, tithe and seeds paid by the followers and members of the church from the church account into your mobile wallet account crated by yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 78(b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.”
Count IV: “ That you Macdonald Richard Iwara on the same date and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did conduct yourself in a manner likely to cause the breach of peace by inducing and diverting the attention of Our Daily Manna Church site followers not to pay tithe and offering into the church account rather than to be paying into a mobile wallet account created by yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 168(d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.”
It was also learnt that the accused had indicted two staff of GTB, who he alleged were his accomplice in the criminal venture. Police source said the two bank staff had been invited for questioning.