A single mother of two, Sandra Okpara, has recovered N1,640,200 she mistakenly transferred to an account linked to Pastor Jerry Eze’s Streams of Joy International.
Okpara recovered the money on Saturday, a day after posting a video on social media appealing for help to trace and retrieve the funds.
In the video shared on Friday, she explained that the money belonged to other people and was intended for payments. She appealed to anyone connected to the church to help her recover it.
“This money is not my money. I cannot do offering of 1,640,200. Please help me trace the accounts,” she said.
Okpara said she had earlier transferred N1,000 as an offering before attempting to send more than N1.6 million to a Zenith Bank account.
According to her, she inadvertently selected the wrong account while making the larger transfer.
“My hand just clicked that one. Before God and man, it was erroneous,” she said.
She said she initially approached Zenith Bank after discovering the mistake but was unable to recover the money.
Okpara later contacted Moniepoint, where she said she was informed that a court order might be required to facilitate the recovery.
She also attempted to reach Streams of Joy International through Pastor Jerry Eze’s online prayer platform but said she could not establish direct contact.
Okpara said she only discovered the error after opening the transfer receipt.
“I didn’t see it. I just made the transfer. After I did it, I had to open the receipt. I was screaming. I had to go to the toilet. I urinated. I came out. I looked at it that there was no hope,” she said.
With her attempts to recover the money unsuccessful, Okpara turned to social media and appealed to members of the public to share her video and help her reach the church.
Her appeal eventually caught the attention of Streams of Joy International, which said it contacted her after seeing the video.
In a statement posted on X on Saturday, the church said it investigated the transaction and refunded the money.
“We have transferred her money back to her,” the church said.
The church also said it had not received any call, email, direct message or formal complaint from Okpara before she published the video.
According to the church, it immediately tried to contact her through the phone number provided and its direct-message channel after becoming aware of the appeal.
Okpara later confirmed that she had received the refund.
Asked if she had received the funds, she replied: “100 per cent.”
She said a member of the church’s staff contacted her at about 6:22 am on Saturday, after which the money was returned.
Okpara also explained that making the matter public was intended to help her recover the funds and was not an attempt to damage Pastor Jerry Eze or the church’s reputation.
“That’s the power of social media. It’s not because I want to do it to tarnish Pastor Jerry’s image,” she said.
