The Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission(EFCC) has declared the Chief Executive Officer of Baraza Multipurpose Cooperative, a Bayelsa-based ponzi scheme, Pastor (Dr) Onyimiebi Bribena and his wife, Beatrice Bribena, “wanted” for allegedly defrauding Nigerians to the tune of N2 billion.
A statement signed by Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Media & Publicity of EFCC, called on anyone with information on their whereabouts to contact the commission’s offices across the country.
The statement read, ” “Bribena and Beatrice are both natives of Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
“Their last known address is: No 163 Mbiama Yenagoa Road, Biogbolo, Bayelsa State.
“Anybody with useful information as to their whereabouts should please contact the Commission in its Benin, Kaduna, lbadan, Sokoto, Gombe, Maiduguri, Makurdi, llorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt and Abuja offices or through these numbers 09-9044751-3, 0B093322644, 08183322644, 070-26350721-3, 070-6350724-5; Its e-mail address: in**@ef**.ng or the nearest Police Station and other security agencies.”
Metronetworknews gathered that Pastor Bribena, who is a pastor at Christ Embassy, Kumasi 1, Ghana, fled Nigeria 2021, after failing to pay investors their return on investment (ROI), leading to protests in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
It learnt that the pastor had alleged that some staff of the cooperative compromised its systems by defrauding the organisation of over N300 million, adding that the organisation was carrying out a forensic audit to enable it to pay a backlog of unpaid surpluses to the investors and members, a promise that was never fulfilled.