ADRA Nigeria Fraud: A Follow-up and Documentation
19 July 2021
A contact in Nigeria, who is known to us but wishes to remain anonymous, has shared additional documentation about the story of Omosebi Fred Adeola, the former director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) of Nigeria, that recently was published on the Adventist Today website. He writes,
Many of us Nigerians have been waiting for the day when Adventist Today would pick up this story. We have known about this problem for some time. This is a case of extensive fraud that implicates not just ADRA Nigeria but, many of us believe, the Western Nigerian Union Conference.
Church members in Nigeria have long been displeased about this situation. The spokesman among the laypeople has been Oluseyi Oduyoye, a Professor of Business Administration at Babcock University, Nigeria. Some have called for the removal of the Western Nigerian Union Conference president, who it is believed is connected to these fraudulent activities through his position on the board of ADRA Nigeria.
The church is divided. Some conferences have pulled out from having anything to do with the Western Nigerian Union Conference until the leadership is changed. The General Conference and Western Africa Division appear powerless—or unwilling—to intervene.
This case made its way to Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) because the money that was stolen was a donation received through ADRA Germany. ADRA Germany would not relent until the fraud was prosecuted. I believe that if ADRA Germany hadn’t become involved nothing would have changed: it would continue to be cover-up after cover-up.
I am attaching a report by a private consulting firm hired by ADRA Germany and the West Central African Division to investigate the allegations. This was done before ADRA Germany proceeded to report the case for prosecution to the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The Western Nigerian Union Conference seems to be untouched by the EFCC in this indictment, though we hope this will be further investigated.