Adeniyi claims he lobbied Budget Office to secure ₦1.3bn allocation for controversial agency

The embattled promoter of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), Prince Adeyemi Matthew Adeniyi, has claimed that he personally lobbied officials of the Budget Office to facilitate the inclusion of the agency in the 2026 Federal Government budget.

Adeniyi made the claims during an interview with social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, in a video published on Instagram following his arrest.

The PFIPC, whose legal status has been questioned by the Federal Government, was allocated about ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, triggering public concern and calls for an investigation into the budget process.

During the interview, Adeniyi denied that the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, played any role in securing the allocation, insisting that he had never met him.

According to him, he first approached the Budget Office in December 2024 to seek the inclusion of the agency in the 2025 budget but was informed that the appropriation process had already been concluded.

He claimed officials advised him to pursue the proposal in the 2026 budget instead and that he subsequently maintained contact with some of them.

Adeniyi further alleged that a female official facilitated his meeting with the Director-General of the Budget Office, who later referred him to another senior official to continue discussions on the proposal.

He claimed that although the agency could not be accommodated in the 2025 budget, officials assured him that efforts would continue ahead of the 2026 appropriation process.

The embattled promoter denied paying bribes to any government official to facilitate the budgetary allocation.

According to him, the only assurance he gave was that he would consider offering employment opportunities to people recommended by the officials if the agency eventually became operational.

Adeniyi said his arrest interrupted the process and that he was surprised to later discover that the agency had been included in the 2026 budget.

He maintained that he could not explain how the agency eventually found its way into the appropriation after his legal troubles began.

The former self-acclaimed director-general also addressed allegations that he paid $400 million equivalent to secure his purported appointment, claiming the money was delivered in United States dollars through his late associate, Dolapo Tanimola.

He, however, insisted that he never had direct contact with Gbajabiamila, alleging that Tanimola handled all communications on his behalf.

In the caption accompanying the interview, VeryDarkMan called for a comprehensive investigation into the Budget Office and other relevant government institutions, arguing that Adeniyi should not be the only person investigated if his allegations are found to be credible.

The claims have not been independently verified, and neither the Budget Office nor the officials mentioned in the interview had responded to the allegations as of the time of filing this report.

Adeniyi is facing charges of forgery and impersonation after allegedly presenting himself as Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, an agency the Presidency has repeatedly said does not exist.

Investigators alleged that he operated from an office within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and relied on forged government documents, including a purported appointment letter allegedly linked to the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.

Despite the Presidency’s insistence that the PFIPC is a fictitious organisation, the agency appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation of about ₦1.3 billion, prompting widespread calls for a probe into how it was inserted into the national budget.

The Presidency has consistently described Adeniyi as an impostor and distanced the Federal Government from the purported agency.