The presidential candidate of defunct Alliance for New Nigeria Party and well-known leadership Coach, Mr Fela Durotoye has recounted how he turned down an offer to rip off Nigeria of about N5 billion many years ago by a government official who claimed to be a pastor.
He shared the story Tuesday February 11 at the ongoing biannual conference of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Abuja.
Durotoye said the official called him and informed him of a training job while also assuring him that he had already gotten the opportunity.
The person told him they were looking for somebody who had a reputation for leadership issues and who could train people in 774 local governments across Nigeria in 8 weeks
He was asked to present an invoice which he did because according to the official, he met all the criteria they were looking for.
Durotoye said he quickly put his team together and asked them to do the costing of the training with stern instruction not to add anything beyond the actual cost of the training because he wanted to do it for Nigeria.
His team eventually prepared an invoice of N1.3 billion for the training programme. Three days later, he got a call from the presidency congratulating him that he got the job already. But they noted that the amount he was asking for was too small. They promised to add N700 million to make it N2 billion. He was further asked to prepare an invoice of N5billion naira.
Curious, Durotoye said he wondered aloud that the training was about ethical leadership how come the attempt to rip off Nigeria. The man assured him that he was not ripping off Nigeria that he had served Nigeria and it was time for him to be compensated. When he pressed on telling the man the blessings of God maketh rich and adds no sorrow, the man fired back and said there is no sorrow in this one. You have been doing well for Nigeria. It is time for Nigeria to do well for you.
When the man kept on putting pressure on him to submit the invoice, Durotoye said he had to switch off his phone
Three months later, the former presidential candidate said he read in the papers that EFCC had arrested some presidency officials for stealing N426 million ethical leadership training fund.
While warning against corrupt tendencies, he said “only your values can help you turn down corrupt tendencies”
He recounted how he served for six months under this present government. “I did not collect an official car, and I did not collect a house. I did not collect a salary for serving as Special Assistant to the President. It was difficult to get my letter out because according to somebody in government, my refusal to collect those things will make it difficult to pin me to corruption.”
Durotoye said however that while serving the Tinubu government he met people like him adding that. “When we have the right values there won’t be corruption in this land.”