“Someone was hired to fill my role, he was also never paid”- ex Nidful staff shares story of unpaid salaries

Allegations have surfaced against Isaac Emmanuel, founder of Nidful Security (a tech startup whose website is non-functional), concerning unpaid salaries and unprofessional conduct. A thread shared by a former employee has shed light on these troubling practices, prompting a broader examination of the situation.

The episode started when the former employee, who had worked with Isaac Emmanuel previously, responded to a job opportunity earlier this year. 

“It all started with his reply to my tweet at the beginning of this year. I reached out to him about it in the DM and he said he was still sorting some things and would let me know when it was time,” Akinkunmi Oyewole said. 

He was onboarded into Nidful Security’s workflow via various platforms such as WhatsApp, Trello, Postman, Figma, and GitHub. 

The timeline of the events after:

• April 26-30: The writer is onboarded and begins work without a contract.
• May 8: The contract is finally sent by the company lawyer but with further delays in finalisation.
• June: Payments are not made as promised; partial payment is received with unexplained deductions – ₦50,000.
• July-August: Continued follow-ups yield inconsistent responses, culminating in Isaac’s claim that the employee didn’t work, despite evidence to the contrary.

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Issues raised by Akinkunmi:

1- Delayed contracts: Despite starting work in April, Akinkunmi did not receive a contract until May, causing uncertainty and a lack of legal protection.

“We had our first meeting on April 27 and I started working on the project on the night of the 30th. Keep in mind that up until this point, we have not signed any contract. So I reached out to him about it. Four days later, nothing, so I asked him again. I told him I didn’t get any email which he didn’t reply to.

“On May 8, the documents were finally sent to me by the company lawyer.” But even after signing it, the employee faced persistent delays in payment.

2- Payment irregularities: Payment for the work done in May was delayed and, when received, was incomplete. The writer was then denied payment for June with claims of non-performance.

“Per the contract, payments were supposed to be made on the last day of each month,” Akinkunmi says. 

“The first salary I was supposed to receive on May 31, wasn’t paid until June 10. That’s 10 days late. It would have been 16 days late but I had an argument with the lawyer (Omogbolahan Onakoya) who is in charge of disbursement on June 8, I was credited two days after that.”

“My payment details weren’t even requested for the whole month of May.”

3- Communication breakdown: Throughout the period, communication with Isaac Emmanuel and the company’s lawyer was inconsistent, further complicating the situation. 

“They both – Isaac and Omogbolahan – just straight up ghost me, be it by email, text, or calls.”

The company lawyer, @Kvngintii (still Omogbolahan) wrote a tweet, threatening Akinkunmi: 

4- No feedback on work done: Akinkunmi says no negative feedback was given on his work until it was time for payment – when ₦50,000 was deducted from the May payment. 

“No feedback or performance metric was provided before the payment issue occurred. The only thing remotely related to feedback was Issac saying “I’d be forced to require onsite operations by the end of the month if there’s no progress.” That was on the 15th of July, I had built both dashboards’ user interfaces before he said that and was only waiting for the backend developer to provide me with the rest of the endpoints I needed.”

When Akinkunmi inquired, Isaac replied that he didn’t work, and that’s why his money was short of the normal payment and subsequent months were not paid. 

Akinkunmi says the company “owes me ₦350,000 and has decided not to pay up.”

When asked if he (Akinkunmi) took this up beyond social media, he says, “Yes, I reached out to a lawyer regarding this, the only issue is that I can not afford the legal fees.”

This isn’t the first time

This isn’t the first time Isaac Emmanuel of Nidful Security has faced such accusations. Akinkunmi recalls similar issues at a previous company, Groomlog Limited, where employees were dismissed without being paid for work completed. 

“Back in 2022, I worked at his previous company, Groomlog Limited (a company whose online presence and phone number are inactive). I and a few other team members were fired for ‘reduced performance and low output.’”

He claims he worked 20 days before this and was not paid. 

“Someone else was hired to fill my role, he was also never paid. Everyone was eventually dismissed after two months of my exit.”

Response from Nidful:

As of now, Isaac Emmanuel has not publicly responded to the allegations and has not responded to attempts to reach him. 

However, the allegations against Isaac Emmanuel and Nidful Security bring to light critical issues regarding employment practices, particularly in the tech industry where remote work and digital communication are the norms. 

When asked how this experience impacted his professional relationships and career growth, here was Akinkunmi’s response: 

“Well, this doesn’t really have any effect on my career growth, just that this will make me more sceptical about Nigerian startups that do not have a product in the market yet and or haven’t raised money. I’ll start to question if they can actually pay. This has mostly affected me financially.”