Afrobeats Superstar D’banj released by ICPC
Nigerian musician Oladapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, has been released on Friday by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), after spending over 72 hours in detention.
READ MORE: Fraud: Anti-graft Agency Arrests Afrobeats Star D’Banj
This was disclosed by his lawyer, who claims the commission couldn’t find any evidence against him, hence his release.
Reportedly, the musician cooperated with the Commission during their probe, hence his release.
His lawyer Pelumi Olajengbesi said that D’banj was released on supervised probation but couldn’t confirm whether the ICPC had given the musician administrative bail.
He also claimed that the ICPC didn’t trace any evidence of fraudulent activity to the singer.
“Nothing incriminating was found on him. He was released on self-recognition. Right now, we expect the ICPC to give a letter of clearance to Dbanj because, as we have always said, he is innocent of the charges brought against him,” the lawyer said.
However, according to Premium Times, two Nigerian banks have provided the anti-graft organisation with extensive financial information regarding the matter.
Recall that VON reported earlier that the singer was detained by the ICPC after several calls from the commission were ignored.
It was later confirmed that he is under investigation for allegedly diverting funds released for the federal government’s N-Power project. A project which was initiated in 2016 to combat the country’s unemployment challenges.
Thou the federal ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management, and social development has revealed that it reported the alleged fraud in the N-Power programme the ICPC for investigation.
In a statement, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the permanent secretary of the ministry, said there have been some inadequacies in the payment processes of N-Power beneficiaries, hence the need to invite the ICPC for investigation.
In his words, “when it came to our notice that there may have been some sharp practices by some personnel of the Payment Service Provider involved in the payment processes of beneficiaries, the matter was immediately referred to ICPC for a thorough investigation. We are aware that certain persons have consequently been invited for interrogation as part of the ongoing investigations.”
Pulse/O.O
