A popular Nigerian pastor, Tobi Adegboyega, who is at the center of a United Kingdom (UK) deportation controversy, has said that he overstayed in the country because he “lost track of time”.

In an interview with the BBC published on Friday, the founder of the SPAC Nation church said he arrived in the UK aged 25 in 2005 on a visitor’s visa but failed to legalise his stay.

The pastor said he assumed his family was handling his immigration paperwork.

“I lost track of time,” he said, referring to the nearly decade-long delay in applying to regularise his immigration status.

The 44-year-old is also said to have lost his battle against deportation from the UK over an alleged £1.87 million fraud.

Local reports said an immigration tribunal ruled that Adegboyega be deported to Nigeria after investigations exposed misuse of funds by his church.

However, the charismatic preacher dismissed the allegations in the BBC interview.

“There is no deportation order, let me make that clear,” he said.

Adegboyega said the case was an “ongoing issue” and added that the decision to decide his fate is in the hands of the judges.

The pastor said the allegations of fraud came from “disgruntled members” of his church.

“How on earth do you run an organisation without disgruntled people?” he asked.

Adegboyega said his church has helped get hundreds of knives off the streets and has tackled gun violence in the UK.

Addressing criticism over his lavish lifestyle, the preacher, who has repeatedly sported luxury items, said, “I put on what is right, what connects to the generation I’m speaking to, so they are not attracted to drug dealers”.