PFIPC Budget Scandal: Prince Adeniyi Explains How Controversial Agency Entered 2025 Budget, Denies Links to Gbajabiamila
Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, the self-acclaimed Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), has explained how the disputed agency was processed for inclusion in the federal budget, insisting he was no longer involved when the eventual N1.3 billion allocation appeared in the appropriation document.
The revelation emerged during a recorded interview with social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, which PulseNets obtained shortly after Adeniyi’s arrest over allegations bordering on forgery, impersonation and conspiracy in connection with the operations of the agency.
Speaking during the interview, Adeniyi said he visited the Budget Office in December 2024 to request the inclusion of PFIPC in the 2025 Appropriation Bill but was informed that submissions for the budget had already closed.
“I went to that Budget Office for the 2025 budget. I submitted the letter and everything that I wanted, but I was told it was already late. When the 2025 budget came out and I didn’t see it, they told me it would now be for the 2026 budget.”
Adeniyi further alleged that a female official at the Budget Office assisted him in securing a meeting with senior officials, claiming that he was asked to provide gratification before his request could receive attention.
“She helped me to see the oga. Oga now said, ‘Where is my shini?’ I said I don’t have any shini. He later asked me to meet one director.”
According to him, the director later informed him that PFIPC could not be accommodated in the 2025 budget because the appropriation process had already been concluded, but assured him that the proposal could be considered in the following budget cycle.
Adeniyi maintained that all efforts relating to the proposed agency ended after his legal troubles and subsequent arrest, stressing that he had no knowledge of how PFIPC eventually surfaced in the budget.
“Immediately, there was a problem, everything stopped. Even the woman that wanted to help was calling because she couldn’t reach me. I told her to let everything stop.”
“I didn’t even know until they said it was inside the budget. I had already left the office.”
PulseNets learnt that the PFIPC controversy has generated widespread public attention after reports revealed that about N1.32 billion was allocated to the agency, despite the Federal Government’s position that the body was never legally established.
The House of Representatives is expected to commence a formal investigation into how the allocation was inserted into the 2025 Appropriation Act. The ad hoc committee, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi, is expected to determine how the agency found its way into the budget and identify officials involved in the process.
The investigation follows Adeniyi’s arrest by operatives of the Force Intelligence Department’s Intelligence Response Team after he allegedly failed to appear before a court over charges related to impersonation and forgery.
Adeniyi also dismissed allegations linking President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to the budget controversy, insisting that he had never met the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“I never met Gbajabiamila physically before and after he was appointed. Dolapo Tanimola handled everything for me,” he said, referring to a late associate whom he claimed acted as an intermediary.
Also Read: PFIPC: Adeyemi Offers to Surrender to DSS as Tinubu Orders ICPC Probe into Alleged Fake Agency Controversy
He also denied paying money to officials of the Budget Office, maintaining that the only commitments he made were promises of future employment opportunities if the agency eventually became operational.
PulseNets reports that the Presidency and the Office of the Chief of Staff have consistently denied any involvement in the controversy. Gbajabiamila has also instituted a N15 billion defamation suit against Adeniyi over allegations that he received money to facilitate the establishment of the agency.
