From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
A group, Concerned Subscribers of Nigeria Grants, has urged the Federal Government to investigate the activities of Theobarth Grant, which they alleged of defrauding unsuspected members of the public.
The group staged a protest in Osogbo, Osun State, with placards of various inscriptions such as “El-Rufai Should Speak On The Allegation That He Is Delaying Distribution of Grants,” “FG Must Investigate Theobarth Grants,” “Apostle Theophilus Ebonyi Has Defrauded Millions of Nigerians,” among others.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Festus Momoh, alleged that the country Director of Theobarth, Apostle Theophilus Ebonyi, has collected over N2 billion from people and refused to disburse the grants.
He alleged that some NGOs are colluding with the country director to swindle unsuspected members of the public of their hard-earned money.
According to him, no fewer than 20,000 clusters with not less than 1,000 in each of the clusters, have been duped to the tune of an N2 billion.
He alleged that some NGOs who are in connivance with the director are paying N350,000 to register with Theobarth after which they begin to share forms and collect money ranging from N500 to N2,000 from each registrant.
The group explained that some aides to Theobarth like Peter Judge aka New Man, Agbochenu Bartholomew have accused Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna state of delaying the disbursement of the grants.
They called on the governor to speak out on the allegation levelled against him for members of the public to know their enemy.
One of the aides to Apostle Ebonyi, Rv Bartholomew Agbochieun, described the allegation of the group as a lie.
He said ‘Apostle Theophilus Ebonyi has the grant to give to Nigerians and he is processing it, people subscribed quite okay but those groups are not patient with Apostle Ebonyi to go through the processes, the leader of the protesting group came and Apostle Ebonyi returned his money.
‘Their leader is faceless in the grand colony of Nigeria. They should prove it with evidence that all the money we’ve collected so far has amounted to over 2 billion.
‘Each person paid at least #500 to access the grant and I paid for over 10,000 people so if there’s anybody to make noise it should be me and I’m patient.
‘They started the registration about 3years ago. They should be patient. I am in the centre of the operation.’