Renowned leadership coach and former presidential candidate of the defunct Alliance for New Nigeria, Fela Durotoye, has shared how he resisted pressure to partake in a fraudulent N5 billion government deal, despite persistent persuasion from an official who identified as a pastor.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria’s biannual conference in Abuja, Durotoye described the experience as a defining test of integrity, according to a Church Times Nigeria report on Wednesday.
He recounted how the official offered him a lucrative training contract, assuring him that he had already been selected for the job. The project involved training individuals across all 774 local government areas in Nigeria within eight weeks, a task for which Durotoye was deemed an ideal candidate.
After assessing the costs with his team, he submitted an invoice for N1.3 billion, strictly based on actual expenses. However, just three days later, he received a call from the presidency that changed everything.
“I got a call congratulating me on securing the job. But they said my proposed amount was too small. They offered to add N700 million, bringing it to N2 billion, and then insisted I submit an invoice for N5 billion,” Durotoye revealed.
He clarified that the incident happened several years ago but declined to specify which administration was in power at the time.
Shocked by the demand, he questioned the ethics of inflating the price, especially for a training program focused on ethical leadership. However, the official dismissed his concerns.
“The man assured me he wasn’t defrauding Nigeria. He claimed he had served the country and deserved compensation. When I reminded him that true blessings come without sorrow, he replied, ‘There is no sorrow in this one. You have been doing well for Nigeria; it is time for Nigeria to do well for you,’” Durotoye recounted.
As the pressure intensified, Durotoye said he made a firm decision—he switched off his phone and walked away from the deal.
Three months later, news broke that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had arrested several presidency officials for diverting N426 million from an ethical leadership training fund.
Reflecting on the ordeal, he emphasized the role of strong moral values in resisting corruption.
“Only your values can help you turn down corrupt tendencies,” he stated.
Durotoye also spoke about his time serving under the Tinubu administration as Special Assistant to the President, revealing that he refused to accept official perks.
“I did not collect an official car, I did not collect a house, and I did not collect a salary for serving. It was difficult to get my resignation letter approved because, according to someone in government, my refusal to accept those things made it harder to pin any corruption allegations on me,” he explained.
Despite the challenges, he noted that he met individuals in government who shared his commitment to integrity.
“When we have the right values, corruption will no longer have a place in this land,” he concluded.
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