The Lead Pastor of Streams of Joy International, Jerry Eze, has reacted to remarks by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, concerning an investigation into alleged money laundering.
The cleric, who spoke on Wednesday at the Jerry Eze Foundation Business Grant Award Ceremony in Abuja, recounted his experience during the period of the probe, describing it as emotionally challenging.
“I remember that the EFCC chairman was talking about the investigation. He’s saying it, and he’s happy. But he didn’t know the kind of… I remember talking to Pastor Poju at the time. I remember talking to Pastor Sarah. I’m like, what did I do? I’ve not done anything. I don’t know why these people are after me,” Eze said.
He continued, “I wake up, I’m driving to NSPPD in the morning… You did me wrong. I must say it. I’m driving in the morning, and I’m crying, and I’m saying, ‘Jesus, Lord, you know.’ I prayed for you. I put your name on the altar because it looked like… I didn’t know what it was.”
Eze, however, expressed gratitude that the investigation eventually cleared him of any wrongdoing.
“But then again, the interesting thing is that when he came, he said, ‘We looked through your books, and we didn’t find anything wrong you did,’ and I am beyond grateful to God,” he added.
His reaction follows comments by EFCC Olukoyede, who disclosed that he ordered a six-month investigation into the pastor after intelligence reports indicated significant inflows of foreign currencies into a domiciliary account linked to him.
“I am going to embarrass you today. I never wanted to say it, but I just felt that was my little way of making this contribution,” Olukoyede said.
“I investigated this man for six months for money laundering. We work by intelligence; we work by petitions. At some point, there was an account, a domiciliary account; dollars and pounds were dropping like raindrops from Colombia, from America, from Sri Lanka, even from Togo,” he said.
According to Olukoyede, EFCC investigators thoroughly examined the financial records and traced the sources of the funds.
After completing the review, Eze was invited for questioning and provided explanations regarding the transactions, including their connection to his religious and charitable activities.
The EFCC chairman stated that no wrongdoing was established at the end of the probe.
Rather than pursue legal action, he said the commission commended the cleric and encouraged him to maintain transparency, while noting that the agency would continue its routine monitoring of financial activities in line with its oversight responsibilities.
