There is a strange development in the controversy surrounding businessman Stephen Akintayo and GText Homes.
Former employees are making serious allegations about unpaid salaries, salary deductions, pension and tax remittances, sales targets, disputed incentives and alleged harassment.
And the company's response is that the allegations are false, that some former employees absconded with company property and that a coordinated smear campaign is underway.
Those are serious competing claims.
But then came another response from Akintayo.
A nine-minute video heavily invoking Bishop David Oyedepo.
And that is where the controversy becomes bigger than one businessman.
Because when workers are alleging that they were not paid, the natural questions are painfully simple:
Were they paid?
How much was owed?
When was it paid?
Were pension deductions remitted?
Were taxes remitted?
What did the employment contracts actually say?
Were promised incentives delivered?
Were salary deductions lawful?
Were former employees harassed?
Which allegations are false, and what evidence proves they are false?
Those are the questions that should sit at the centre of the conversation.
Not the reputation of a pastor.
Not the size of somebody's following.
Not whether someone calls you "Papa."
Not whether you consider yourself persecuted.
The allegations are not coming from one random social-media post
FIJ's October 6 investigation reported multiple former employees making allegations against GText Homes.
One former employee, Martha Onsachi, alleged that she had been given a car after winning a company award but that the arrangement required her to sell ₦200 million worth of property over two years. She said she met and exceeded the target and was subsequently awarded a second car that she never received.
She also told FIJ that when she resigned, the company presented her with an additional agreement that would have required her to continue selling for another two years.
She did not sign it.
According to her account, the dispute subsequently escalated, with people—including people she identified as police officers and apparent prospective clients—allegedly being used to locate or pressure her. She said she eventually went to court and the harassment stopped.
Those are allegations.
But FIJ did not merely publish them without seeking a response.
GText denied the account, saying its records did not support the alleged retaliatory salary deductions and that the company did not instruct the conduct described.
That dispute is precisely why documentation matters.
Then there are the salary deductions
One former HR manager, according to FIJ, alleged that he was instructed to make salary deductions from employees.
GText denied that.
But FIJ reported that the former HR manager produced salary evidence.
According to the documents reported by FIJ, he received ₦100,300 on February 2, 2026, described as his December salary, despite having a salary of ₦350,000 at the time.
That represents a difference of ₦249,700.
FIJ also reported that his November salary, paid in December, was ₦311,800, representing a ₦38,200 difference from his stated ₦350,000 salary.
That doesn't automatically prove the company's explanation is wrong.
There could be legitimate deductions.
But it creates a very straightforward question:
What were those deductions for?
And can the company produce the documentation?
Pension allegations are even more serious
FIJ also interviewed a former senior finance employee who alleged that employment documents showed pension and tax deductions, while the company allegedly failed to remit them.
That person claimed they had access to company bank statements and financial records.
Again, GText rejected the allegations and said the claims did not accurately represent its practices or records.
This is not something that should be settled by social-media arguments.
Pension deductions and statutory remittances are matters that can be independently verified through records.
If the money was remitted, show the remittance evidence.
If it wasn't, explain why.
That's accountability.
And this isn't the first payment controversy involving GText
This is where the story becomes harder to dismiss as simply a social-media pile-on.
In 2023, FIJ reported that a businessman, Adeshina Ogedengbe, accused GText Homes of withholding ₦2.9 million after a ₦15 million laterite-supply contract.
After the initial reporting and subsequent pressure, GText eventually paid the outstanding ₦2.9 million.
FIJ also reported in November 2023 that Image Me Corporate Service accused GText of owing it ₦75 million in connection with a property transaction.
That allegation was disputed and GText did not accept the accusation as presented.
So there is an established history of disputes over payments involving GText.
That does not prove every current employee allegation.
But it does mean the current controversy deserves more than a dismissal as "persecution."
The company has a right to defend itself
This part is important.
GText has denied the current allegations.
The company says former employees involved in the campaign absconded from their duties and left with company assets, including laptops, phones, funds and, in one case, a vehicle.
It says it reported these matters to the police and that its social-media platforms were hacked.
Those are serious allegations too.
If true, former employees could themselves face criminal or civil consequences.
So there are potentially two sides to investigate.
Former workers should not automatically be believed simply because they are former workers.
But neither should a company automatically be believed simply because it is the employer.
Documents should decide.
Which brings us back to Bishop Oyedepo
Akintayo has a long-public relationship with Bishop David Oyedepo.
He has described Oyedepo as a mentor and "father," and has publicly discussed seeking his counsel. He has also credited a meeting with Oyedepo as influential in his thinking about business and success.
Oyedepo also appeared at Akintayo's 40th birthday celebration in 2026.
So the religious reference is not coming out of nowhere.
But that creates an uncomfortable question.
What does Bishop Oyedepo have to do with whether GText paid its employees?
Nothing.
A pastor's reputation cannot function as an audit report.
A spiritual relationship cannot substitute for payroll records.
A testimony cannot substitute for pension remittance receipts.
And being associated with a respected religious figure does not answer a former employee's question about money allegedly owed.
Even the "Dr." issue deserves precision
There is another detail that has generated discussion online.
Akintayo does legitimately appear in public professional profiles as "Dr Stephen Akintayo."
But available documentation shows that his 2020 doctorate from European American University was a Doctor of Science, honoris causa, in Real Estate Development and Corporate Leadership.
European American University's own register lists him under that award. Forbes Business Council's profile likewise describes it as a D.Sc. Honoris Causa.
So describing it as an honorary doctorate is accurate.
Calling it a PhD would not be.
That distinction matters because honorary doctorates are honours; they are not equivalent to earning a research doctorate through a PhD programme and dissertation.
But again, that is secondary to the actual controversy.
The employees are not asking for an academic audit.
They are asking about money.
The real test is incredibly simple
If Akintayo believes this is an organized campaign against him, there is a powerful way to dismantle it.
Don't fight the allegations with personality.
Publish the records.
Show the payroll.
Show the employment contracts.
Show the salary schedules.
Show evidence of pension remittances.
Show evidence of tax remittances.
Explain the disputed car incentive.
Explain the sales targets.
Explain why former employees received the payments they claim they received.
Explain every deduction.
Explain every outstanding balance.
And if former employees stole company property, publish the police case numbers or let the appropriate authorities prosecute them.
That is how a serious business answers a serious allegation.
Not with outrage.
Not with followers.
Not with intimidation.
And certainly not by borrowing the moral authority of a religious leader.
Because this is bigger than Stephen Akintayo
Nigeria has millions of young people working for small and medium-sized businesses where employment contracts are weak, salaries are delayed and employees are afraid to complain.
The entrepreneur is celebrated.
The "billionaire" image is celebrated.
The motivational speeches are celebrated.
The cars, houses, conferences and social-media numbers are celebrated.
But the person earning ₦80,000 or ₦100,000 who has not received three months of salary rarely gets a microphone.
That is the part of Nigerian business culture that deserves scrutiny.
A company should not be judged only by how much wealth its founder displays. It should also be judged by how it treats the people whose labour produces that wealth.
If the allegations are false, prove them false.
If the allegations are true, fix them.
Either way, the answer is the same:
Open the books.
Because when the question is about workers' salaries, the balance sheet is more relevant than the pulpit.
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