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’s money was refunded a day after a video appeal she posted on social media went viral.
In the video shared on Friday, Okpara explained that the money did not belong to her but was intended for payments to other people. She appealed to anyone connected to the church to help trace and recover the funds.
“This money is not my money. I cannot do offering of 1,640,200. Please help me trace the accounts,” she said.
Speaking to newsmen on Saturday, Okpara said she had made a N1,000 transfer earlier on Friday as an offering before intending to send another payment of more than N1.6m to a Zenith Bank account.
According to her, she mistakenly selected the wrong account while making the second transfer.
“My hand just clicked that one. Before God and man, it was erroneous,” she said.
Okpara said she initially approached Zenith Bank after discovering the mistake but was unable to recover the money.
She later visited Moniepoint, where a complaint was lodged, but was told that a court order was required.
“I went to Moniepoint; they lodged the complaint, but they were asking for a court order. I don’t know how to contact them. I went to Pastor Jerry’s online prayer platform,” she said.
Okpara said she only realised 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 recounted.
She subsequently made a public appeal, hoping that people would share the video and help her trace the funds.
The appeal eventually caught the attention of Streams of Joy International, which said it contacted Okpara after becoming aware of the video.
In a post on X on Saturday, the church said it investigated the transaction and confirmed that the money had been mistakenly transferred.
“We have transferred her money back to her,” the church stated.
