Nigerian Scam

Nigerian Pseudo Minister Scam

Readers are warned of a possible scam operating in Nigeria by a person or persons operating as Okon Bassey Akpan aka Akpan Okon Bassey as well as Elder Edem Umana.

He claims that he was in the WCG as a minister and left in the split in 1995 with other ministers and brethren of the WCG who formed a group of churches in Nigeria. A number of those ministers named subsequently approached CCG from Nigeria.

He approached us in 2007 claiming to be with them. We have been told that they do not know him and that he appeared to be using their names to try to obtain funds from us.

He has claimed in issue 110 of The Journal: News of the Churches of God that he had a house burned down by suspected arson and lost two of his children dead in the fire. He told us of the alleged fire but made no mention of the loss of the children.

The Journal article reads as follows:

Elder Akpan Okon Bassey, Iknot Ebido Village, Oku Oboi Clan, PO Box 2834, UYO 520001, AKWA IBOM State, Nigeria, West Africa. Elder Akpan's home, where he has been holding weekly Sabbath services and Bible studies since 2001, was burned down following a Sabbath service a few weeks ago. Two of his children died in the fire. Arson is suspected. Please pray for the family. They are now keeping the Sabbath outdoors. Elder Akpan and his brethren may be reached at akpanob7thdayrestfamily@yahoo.com.

The email address is the same used by the Okon Bassey Akpan approaching CCG. There seems little doubt they are the same person. The name provided for the funds transfer is Okon Bassey Akpan.

The other email address to watch out for is lagbrethren2007@yahoo.com, which is the one being used by "Elder Edem Umana".

The address given CCG for funds transfer is: 210 Abak Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Nigeria.

To our knowledge this man is not associated with the ministry of the WCG. The people he named as operating with him in Nigeria denied all knowledege of him when they approached us.

They claimed that there are many such false claims being made in Nigeria. Indeed we have proven that to be so.

It is recommended that no person in the Churches of God send funds to anyone in Nigeria, for any purpose, no matter who they purport to be. Help will be sent to genuine parties via CCG church accounts.

Readers should note that the above email addresses can be easily changed (and probably have been already) and to be very wary of any unsolicited emails requesting help/donations from anywhere, not just Nigeria.

Western Union has now closed down transfers to Nigeria from many if not most areas.

The Akpan emails stated that they left WCG in 1995 and set up an organisation in Nigeria. The names of people associated with this person were given as being:

Elder Richard Uko Umo
Elder James Solomon Udofia
Elder Eyo Eyo
Elder Oboi Ettange
Elder Michael Udosen

Subsequently the first two mentioned above approached CCG separately. They claimed that they had not met this Akpan and did not know each other until they met at CCG request. However Akpan knew their names. Other names provided in the approach to CCG in association with these people were:

Elder Inyene Mbakara
Elder John Emeka

Associated with them were also stated to be:
Elder Joshua Jang,
Elder Moses Umar
Elder Isa Murtar
Elder Lambo Dimka
We have no knowledge of these four latter people.

The details of the WCG ordinations, where given, were defective or suspect or cannot be remembered correctly. Some details provided to us appear to have been lifted directly from the the COG (7D) site at Giving and Sharing, perhaps not realising that those people were not associated with WCG. Also WCG officers have stated they have no knowledge of any of these people.

As expected the usual crises occurred and "hospitals" were named that the Nigerian High Commission certifies do not exist in Nigeria.  

A lawyer named by these people is a Zongo Yobana of Cotonou Benin. This name also appears as an attorney in connection with a lottery scam in Burkina Faso. The name given by the individual for Western Union purposes was Uzo James. His requests included funds to pay bribes and bogus stamp duty which were not met.

Our advice is to be very careful in dealing with Nigeria or West Africa in general.