The embattled self-acclaimed Director-General of the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, Prince Adeyemi Matthew Adeniyi, has claimed he personally lobbied officials at the Budget Office of the Federation to secure the inclusion of the controversial agency in the 2026 Federal Government budget.
Adeniyi made the revelation during an interview with social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, in a video published on Instagram on Sunday following his arrest.
The alleged agency, which the Federal Government has described as fictitious, was controversially allocated about ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, despite ongoing investigations into its authenticity.
Speaking during the interview, Adeniyi absolved the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, of any involvement in the budgetary allocation, insisting he had never met the presidential aide in person.
According to him, his first attempt to secure budgetary funding for the agency was in December 2024 when he approached the Budget Office for inclusion in the 2025 budget.
“I went to the Budget Office for the 2025 budget and submitted my proposal, but I was told it was already too late because the budget process had closed,” he said.
He claimed officials advised him that the proposal would instead be considered during preparations for the 2026 budget, adding that he maintained communication with some staff members afterward.
Adeniyi further alleged that a female official facilitated a meeting with the Director-General of the Budget Office, who later referred him to another senior official to continue discussions on the proposal.
According to him, while efforts to include the agency in the 2025 budget failed, officials assured him it would be considered for the 2026 appropriation.
Responding to questions about whether he offered bribes to facilitate the process, Adeniyi denied making any financial payments.
“I did not pay anybody. The only promise I made was that if I eventually started employing people, I could help them with employment opportunities,” he said.
He claimed his arrest halted every discussion regarding the proposal and expressed surprise when he later discovered the agency had been included in the 2026 budget.
“Once I got into trouble, everything stopped. I didn’t even know the agency had been captured in the budget until people told me,” he stated.
Asked whether Budget Office officials may have inserted the agency into the budget after his arrest, Adeniyi said he could not explain how it happened.
During the interview, Adeniyi also addressed allegations that he paid $400 million-equivalent in United States dollars to secure his purported appointment. He claimed the money was delivered through his late associate, Dolapo Tanimola, whom he alleged handled all arrangements on his behalf.
Despite the claims, Adeniyi maintained that he never had any physical meeting with Gbajabiamila before or after the latter’s appointment as Chief of Staff.
In a 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 individual held accountable if his allegations are proven.
However, the allegations made during the interview have not been independently verified, and the officials and institutions mentioned are yet to publicly respond to the claims.
Background
Adeniyi is facing allegations of operating a fictitious government agency known as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council while presenting himself as its Director-General using allegedly forged government documents.
Investigators also alleged that he operated from an office within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and relied on a forged appointment letter falsely attributed to the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
Security agencies subsequently arrested and charged him with offences including forgery and impersonation.
Although the Presidency has consistently described Adeniyi as an impostor and distanced the Federal Government from the alleged agency, the organisation later appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation of about ₦1.3 billion, triggering widespread public outrage and renewed calls for a thorough investigation into Nigeria’s budget process.
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