How Disputed PFIPC DG Allegedly Adopted Prince Title, Ignored Alaafin’s Warning

Fresh details have emerged on the background of Prince Adeniyi Mathew Adeyemi, the controversial Director-General of the disputed Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), with investigators reportedly finding that he was not related to the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III.

According to findings by a federal agency investigating the matter, Adeyemi once lived in the Alaafin’s palace during the reign of the late monarch but was not a member of the royal family.

Sources told the Nigerian Tribune that security agencies began investigating Adeyemi’s background in early 2025, covering his childhood, educational records, business links and other associations.

It was gathered that investigators traced Adeyemi to Oyo town and the Alaafin’s palace, where a top aide of the late monarch reportedly confirmed that he was not related to Oba Adeyemi.

The aide was also said to have told investigators that the controversial PFIPC boss’s surname is Adeniyi, while Mathew is his middle name.

Investigations reportedly showed that Adeyemi grew up in the palace and had long used the title of prince.

A source claimed that at some point, the late Alaafin warned him to stop using the title because he was not a prince.

Sources also claimed that federal accountability agencies had previously raised concerns about several questionable organisations appearing in government records.

“I can confirm to you that several investigative agencies of government have in the past raised questions about some phony organisations which appear in the books of the government. Curiously, some of those bodies remain in the books,” a source said.

The controversy around Adeyemi intensified after the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, disowned him and accused him of operating an illegal body.

Adeyemi, however, has defended the organisation and made allegations against Gbajabiamila.

The matter deepened after reports emerged that the disputed agency operated a Treasury Single Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, secured office space at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and received a ₦1.3bn allocation in the 2026 budget.