An Anambra cleric, Bar. Ejike Nwachukwu, on Sunday said that pastors who accepted monies from Internet fraudsters popularly known as yahoo yahoo were attracting curses upon themselves.
He said internet fraudsters were not different from killers, while their actions were not different from those of armed robbers.
Speaking in Awka during a special Sunday service, Nwachukwu, Head Pastor of Rhema Deliverance Ministry, decried growing trend of youths going into internet fraudsters to make quick money.
He also regretted growing trend of such fraudsters visiting churches for prayers for them to succeed in their plots, urging his fellow pastors not to pray for them.
He said, “If you are a yahoo boy, you are a thief, and there is nothing different between you and an armed robber.
“You collect people’s money under the guise of doing business with them and you disappear, and you inflict a lot of suffering on them, to the point that sometimes they even die and you come to me for prayers. I will not pray for you.”
Revealing how he rejected N4million “seed offering” offered him by the fraudsters, the cleric said he was forced to walk them out of his office.
He said, “Two young men came to my office the other day with N2million, they said it was for seed offering, and that they had a business they were believing God to materialize soon, and that the money is for seed offering.
“I looked at them, two young boys with N2million. I asked them what business they were expecting and they said it was a deal, and that they would bring more money to me once the deal paid off, and even promised to buy me an SUV.
“I prayed and the Lord revealed to me that it was internet fraud, and I told them so and they confirmed it was true.
“I walked them out of my office, but only one left and returned with extra N2million, in the hope that if the money was big, I would accept, but I sent two of them out.”
Nwachukwu lamented that lots of Nigerian youths were very creative, but instead of channeling their creativity into something useful, they preferred to indulge in fraud.
He wondered how two young people would have N4million and cannot use it to begin a meaningful venture.