The Managing Director of Divine Dopacy Nigeria Limited, Gbenga Collins, has revealed that he paid 400 million naira to Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self described Director General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, after being promised a contract to renovate and furnish the official residence allocated to the executive.

Collins made the disclosure while appearing before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the alleged establishment and activities of the council, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi. He told the committee he first met Adeyemi in Ogbomoso in December 2024 during a hometown event, and that Adeyemi subsequently invited him to Abuja around January or February 2025 to discuss a business opportunity. On arrival at the Abuja airport, Collins said an official vehicle was sent to collect him and take him to Adeyemi’s office at the Federal Secretariat, where Adeyemi presented himself as Director General of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the disputed council. “When I arrived at the airport, he sent an official car to come and pick me from the airport to his office at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja. When I got to his office, I met him there. He is a well known man in Ogbomoso. I met a lot of people, very big dignitaries in his office, and I met a group of security officers guarding the office,” Collins told lawmakers, stressing that the presence of security personnel, government vehicles and what appeared to be a functioning government office gave him no reason to doubt Adeyemi’s claims. “I saw police officers with him. That was my first time of coming to Abuja because I’m not familiar with Abuja very well. He sent his official car to pick me from the airport. It had a federal government registration number attached to the Lexus SUV,” he said.

Collins said Adeyemi informed him that he intended to renovate and furnish the official residence purportedly allocated to him as Director General and offered his company the contract, personally taking him to inspect the property the following day, accompanied by staff and security personnel. “He told me that he wanted to do refurbishment and renovation of the official house assigned to him as the DG of that agency and asked whether I would be able to handle the contract. He took me to the house to show me the property because I slept in Abuja. We went there the following day with his staff. We went with more than four, five or six vehicles with security. They opened the house and took us round, showing me what they wanted to do,” Collins said, adding that because he was unfamiliar with Abuja, he could not recall the exact location of the property, though he still has photographs of the house.

Discussions continued after he returned to Ogbomoso until around April 2025, when Adeyemi invited him back to Abuja and presented him with what he described as a contract award letter, scope of work and an agreement between the council and Divine Dopacy Nigeria Limited for the refurbishment project. “He gave me the contract award letter, the scope of work and the agreement with my company to execute the refurbishment project. I had to pay 400 million naira for the facilitation of that project to show my strength that I would be able to handle the project. At the same time, he said it would fast track the mobilization for the contract,” Collins said, adding that he raised the funds from business associates who trusted his judgment because he had personally visited Adeyemi’s office and believed he was dealing with a genuine federal government agency.

Collins said the 400 million naira was paid in five instalments between May and July 2025, with the first 100 million naira paid on May 16, 2025 into a Guaranty Trust Bank account belonging to World Entrepreneurs Limited, followed by another 100 million naira into the same account on May 22, and a third 100 million naira payment on May 28. He said he subsequently paid another 80 million naira into the account on June 20, 2025, bringing the total paid to World Entrepreneurs Limited to 380 million naira. After exhausting his available resources, he informed Adeyemi he could no longer raise additional funds, and the outstanding 20 million naira was eventually paid on July 29, 2025 into an Access Bank account belonging to Sunshine Confectionery and Catering Services, bringing the total to 400 million naira. “When I was paying the money, I kept telling him that I collected the money from my colleagues who were doing business with me. I was the one who told them I had gone to this man’s office, so I believed it was going to be a great opportunity for us. That was why people started giving me the money,” he said.

After completing the payments, Collins said Adeyemi repeatedly assured him that mobilization for the purported contract would begin in August 2025, later attributing the delay to security related issues and promising payment would follow in November. “When I finished the payment, he said they were going to do the mobilization by August. I continued calling him. He kept managing me, telling me they were handling security issues and that they would pay in November,” Collins said, adding that he made repeated trips to Abuja in search of Adeyemi as pressure mounted from the business associates who had contributed the funds, before eventually discovering his calls were no longer being answered. He said he then consulted a lawyer in Abuja, who was the first person to tell him he had been scammed.

Collins said his lawyer petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on November 13, 2025, and he was invited to formally adopt the petition on November 19, after which the commission commenced investigations and invited individuals linked to the bank accounts into which the money was paid. He said investigators told him Adeyemi has repeatedly failed to honor invitations from the anti-graft agency, allegedly citing ill health through his lawyer. “Since then, the EFCC has been trying to invite him. I think he has been sending his lawyer. According to the Investigating Police Officer handling the case, his lawyer kept saying he would appear. Since then, I have not heard anything further, but they are on top of the matter. The EFCC will be in the best position to handle the rest,” he said.