OPay to take legal action against prophet who claimed the app would crash in 2026

Leading Fintech platform OPay has vowed to take legal action against a prophet, Aliyu Barnabas, who prophesied that the app would have issues starting from December 2025. The platform has disregarded the claims of being a Ponzi Scheme and is set to drag the Benue-based prophet to court.

In a response to an X post by Tending Explained, a page which provides explanations to trending news on X, OPay urged customers to disregard the claims made by the Prophet. It also tagged the claims as both false and misleading. 

“Kindly be informed that the circulating video by the said Prophet Aliyu Barnabas of Mercy and Grace Deliverance Ministry is false and misleading,” it said in the X post. 

The company reaffirmed its commitment to staying strong and urged customers not to panic as it’s licensed by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

“Our Legal Team is taking action. OPay remains strong, licensed, and here to stay,” it said. 

The company’s response comes amid a heated debate, with some customers raising doubts over the possibility of the company being a Ponzi Scheme. Others claimed it’s another illegitimate prophecy from fake Prophets.

The issue follows recent Ponzi Scheme activities where Nigerians have losses in thousands and millions of naira. Recently, Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) crashed, with Nigerians losing N1.3 trillion, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). 

Also Read: Opay, Moniepoint top list of the 10 most downloaded fintech apps in Nigeria.

Background of the claim

On Monday, a video went viral across social media platforms where a Benue Prophet, Aliyu Barnabas, predicted that OPay will crash, latest by January 2026. In the video, Prophet Barnabas of Mercy and Grace Deliverance Ministry, Ukum, Benue, alleged that Opay is demonic and a ritual. He added that OPay will start having issues from December.

By January, the bank’s issues will get tougher. But the digital bank won’t necessarily close down by January. 

“Opay is about to close down. Opay is a r!tŭāl. Everybody will wake one day to find their money in their Opay account gone. It’s going to happen between December to January next year,” he said. 

In addition, he noted that by January, the app will lose the battle and later start asking users to verify their details again in order to access their funds. He noted that later in the year, it will totally close down, leaving customers stranded.

The Prophet, who claimed all his prophecies have always come to pass, said that when all these come into play, Nigerians will know he’s a real man of power.

While OPay had disregarded this claim and tagged it as misleading, the app isn’t an investment platform, and it’s currently insured by NDIC, like other approved banks and Fintechs operating in Nigeria. 

OPay launched its mobile money platform in Nigeria in August 2018, though the company originated from Paycom Nigeria Limited, which was founded in 2013. The rebranding to OPay occurred after Opera acquired the company in 2017.

The company’s valuation is approximately $2.7 to 3 billion as of early 2024.

Not the first of such 

This isn’t the first time OPay will be in the web of possible crash claims. 

In late 2023, a prophet predicted the platform would crash. In February 2024. Another Prophet predicted it wouldn’t crash. The latest happened about two weeks ago, when a random user said the platform had crashed.

The claims came in thick and fast such that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervened in one of the claims. 

In 2023, there were reports that the regulator suspended Fintech platforms such as Palmpay and Opay because they were being used to orchestrate fraud. The CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications at that time, Isa AbdulMumin, noted that the news is simply fake and urged Nigerians to disregard the claims.