Dbanj arrested by ICPC over corruption allegations related to the government's N-Power scheme

AFROBEAT musician Oladapo Oyebanji popularly known as D’banj has been arrested and detained by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over corruption allegations related to the government's N-Power scheme.

Launched way back in 2016, N-Power was a federal government initiative introduced to empower young people and Dbanj was brought in to act as one of its ambassadors. Yesterday, however, the ICPC arrested the musician over alleged fund diversion of millions of N-Power funds in collaboration with some government officials.

He is currently being detained at the ICPC headquarters in Abuja. Sources within the anti-graft agency confirmed that D’banj was arrested and detained after ICPC operatives forced him to surrender after threats that he would be arrested anywhere in the world, if he failed to show up.

D’Banj had earlier been invited for questioning on several occasions but the singer had refused to show up, claiming that he was out of the country for scheduled concerts. However, he eventually showed up yesterday and was immediately taken into custody.

“Our investigation shows that D’banj colluded with some government officials to infuse ghost beneficiaries into the payroll of the scheme. With this, the stipend paid to those ghost beneficiaries are directly paid to bank accounts linked to the singer.

“On arrival he was interrogated for hours after which he was detained and his plea for administrative bail was rejected by officials, for lack of trust,” the ICPC source added. D’Banj is now expected to be arraigned in court this week, for an extended remand order to enable further investigations.

D’banj has since issued a statement calling on the ICPC to carry out its investigation thoroughly, while urging the general public to resist the urge to buy into media sensationalism. He lamented the fact that the media has been awash with reports of un-established allegations of fraud.

Maryam El-Yakub Musa, the singer's legal adviser, said: “It is instructive to state foremost that the report concerning the arrest and detention of Mr Daniel Oladapo Oyebanjo is misconceived, malicious and prejudicial to the justice system anywhere in the world. We would advise that the general public be well guided.

“For the record, D’banj has no such contractual or incidental relationship whatsoever with any group or persons within or outside the government in relation to the disbursement, operations, access or control of the operation of any government fund through an agency or its subsidiaries. D’banj has encouraged the commission to carry out its investigation thoroughly to ensure that characters attempting to bring him into such ridiculous activities must be brought to book."