THE embattled ‘director general’ of the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi, has given an insight into how the organisation was captured in this year’s Federal Government budget, despite his arrest before conclusion of the appropriation process.
Adeyemi, in a recorded interview with social media influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), released shortly after his arrest, said the Chief of Staff to the President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, had no hand in the N1.3bn budgetary allocation, as he personally approached top Budget Office officials for the insertion inclusion.
He explained that the process was not completed before his arrest; hence he was surprised to discover that the organisation was captured in the budget.
Adeyemi disclosed that he visited the Budget Office in December 2024 to seek the inclusion of the PFIPC in last year’s Appropriation Bill, but was told the process had been completed.
He stated: “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. We kept in touch, because they said it would be considered later.”
He explained that a female official assisted him to access to the office of the Director General of the Budget Office before he was referred to another director, adding: “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.”
He said the director informed him that the proposal could no longer be accommodated in the 2025 budget, adding: “They were trying for me, that maybe they would include it, but unfortunately they said it could not be included in the 2025 budget. They said it would be for 2026.”
Asked whether he paid any official for their assistance, Adeyemi said he only promised officials some favours on execution of the deal, noting: “Honestly, I did not pay any money. I didn’t pay anybody.
“The only thing I promised was that if I started employing people, I could help them with employment opportunities.”
“That was the favour I promised them. I did not give anybody money. It was just a promise that if they had people, I could employ them later.”
The process, he said, ended immediately he was arrested, adding: “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. Where would I still pursue the budget when I was already facing court?
“Once that problem started, everything stopped. Why would I still pursue the budget when I was already in trouble?”
Adeyemi insisted that he paid N400million in United States (US) dollars to facilitate his appointment through his late associate, Dolapo Tanimola, and was not sure if it was actually delivered to Gbajabiamila, who he denied ever meeting physically, despite alleging the money was sent through Tanimola and that Gbajabiamila demanded 48 per cent of the PFIPC’s proposed N27.4billion take-off grant, which he rejected.
He stressed: “I never met Gbajabiamila physically before and after he was appointed. Dolapo Tanimola handled everything for me.”
Gbajabiamila has consistently denied the allegations, saying he never met Adeyemi or authorised anyone to collect money on his behalf, and had no knowledge of either Tanimola or the alleged transactions.
He has already filed a N10billion defamation suit against Adeyemi.
A Police investigation report showed that Tanimola died at the National Hospital, Abuja, in October last year, from severe burns in a fire incident at Kachi Hotel in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Adeyemi has urged Tinubu to investigate “the death of an intermediary, identified as Babatunde Tanimola,” as well as the council’s records and budgetary references.
A source close to the deceased said the 42-year-old was asleep in his room at Kachi Hotel when smoke filled the building in the early hours of October 9, last year, and desperately tried to escape, albeit unsuccessfully, as the fire spread rapidly.
The source told Daily Trust that as many scrambled to evacuate from the building, Tanimola was pushed in the ensuing panic, suffering severe burns before eventually managed to escape the burning building, despite sustaining burns in over half of his body, reached the adjoining street and flagged down a commercial tricycle, which rushed him to the National Hospital’s Trauma Centre, .
The source said: “Late Tanimola was in the hospital between October 9, when the fire incident occurred, and October 22, 2025, when he was eventually confirmed dead at the National Hospital, Abuja.
“Before he died, Tanimola noted that while he was sleeping at the hotel, he noticed smoke in his room. He got up and ran through the door, but noticed that someone pushed him and he fell and sustained severe burns.
“He was reported to have been burnt up to 53 per cent, and about four other persons were said to have died due to the incident on the same day.
“After he managed to run through the door, he boarded a tricycle, locally known as keke, to the National Hospital.”
Another source added that some unknown men visited Tanimola at the hospital and offered to take him to a hospital in Minna, Niger State, but the family declined.
The Federal Fire Service, in a press statement on its X handle signed by its National Public Relations Officer, P.O. Abraham (DCF), confirmed that a major fire occurred in Utako on October 8, last year, about the same period Tanimola was burnt.
In the statement, the Service said it “promptly responded to a fire outbreak at a two-storey commercial building in Utako, FCT-Abuja, following an emergency report by a concerned resident.
“Upon arrival, firefighters met the building already engulfed in flames and immediately commenced firefighting operations to bring the situation under control.”
It stated that “the cause of the fire is under investigation to unravel the remote and actual cause of the incident.”
A security guard confirmed to the newspaper that the hotel had been demolished, while officials at the National Hospital’s Information and Protocol Department confirmed that Tanimola died there on October 22, last year.
Photographs seen by the newspaper showed that Tanimola had mingled with prominent Nigerians at different times, as he was photographed with former President, Goodluck Jonathan; former head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon; billionaire businessmen, Tony Elumelu and Abdulsamad Rabiu; former inspectors general of Police, Mike Okiro, Solomon Arase and Kayode Egbetokun; philanthropist, Arthur Eze, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, among others.
He was reportedly known as an intermediary connecting people in government with business.
Unfortunately, the only man who could have clarified the whole situation is no more.
