By TheDailyNewsHub
Streams of Joy International, the church founded by Pastor Jerry Eze, has refunded ₦1,640,200 mistakenly transferred to an account linked to the church by a woman seeking to make a separate payment.
The woman, identified as Sandra Okpara, had appealed for help after discovering that she had inadvertently transferred the money to the church while attempting to send more than ₦1.6m to a Zenith Bank account.
According to Okpara, said she had earlier transferred ₦1,000 as an offering before intending to make the larger payment. She only realised the error after opening the transfer receipt.
“This money is not my money. I cannot do offering of 1,640,200. Please help me trace the accounts,” she said in a video appeal shared online.
Okpara said she initially approached her bank and later Moniepoint in an attempt to recover the funds but encountered difficulties. She subsequently turned to Pastor Jerry Eze’s online prayer platform before deciding to make a public appeal on social media.
The appeal quickly gained attention, prompting Streams of Joy International to contact her.
In a statement posted on X, the church said it investigated the transaction and confirmed the circumstances surrounding the transfer before returning the money.
“We have transferred her money back to her,” the church said.
The church also said it had not received a call, email, direct message or formal complaint from Okpara before her video was published. It said that after becoming aware of the video, it contacted her through the phone number provided and via direct message before reversing the transaction following the necessary investigation and confirmation.
Okpara subsequently confirmed that she had received the money.
Asked whether she had been refunded, she responded, “100 per cent,” adding that the refund arrived at about 6:22 a.m. on Saturday after a member of the church’s staff contacted her.
Okpara also clarified that her public appeal was not intended to damage the reputation of Pastor Jerry Eze or Streams of Joy International.
“That’s the power of social media. It’s not because I want to do it to tarnish Pastor Jerry’s image,” she said.
The incident highlights how social media can help individuals quickly draw attention to difficulties involving mistaken financial transfers, while also underscoring the importance of verification before funds are returned.