Oladapo Oyebanji, better known by his stage as D’banj, has been arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
According to a PREMIUM TIMES exclusive report, D’banj was nabbed for fraudulently diverting N-Power funds
The performer was apprehended and held on Tuesday when ICPC agents surrounded him and forced him to turn himself in at the organization’s headquarters in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, according to people acquainted with the situation who spoke to the news outlet.
The article stated that an insider claimed D’banj had been avoiding summonses for weeks by claiming he was abroad for scheduled concerts everytime he was called to appear for a questioning over a fraud charge.
The pop musician, a famous and wealthy Nigerian, is charged with defrauding the Nigerian government out of hundreds of naira intended for the N-Power project, an empowerment initiative launched by the Nigerian government in 2016 to combat youth unemployment and advance social development.
Investigators assert that D’banj worked with some corrupt government agents to add phantom beneficiaries to the scheme’s payroll. These beneficiaries receive their stipend payments, which are then transferred to accounts that are now purportedly connected to the superstar.
The ICPC sought to arrest the artist anywhere in Nigeria and abroad after he repeatedly declined invitations to appear for questioning; as a result, he was forced to appear at the commission’s office on Tuesday.
Upon arriving, D’banj underwent a protracted interrogation process before being held. His request for administrative bail was denied by authorities who claimed that they could not trust on the singer to appear at his trial if freed on bail.
According to a source with Premium Times, the ICPC may ask the court for an extended detention order on Wednesday so that it may finish its investigation before bringing the singer to justice.
ICPC or the D banj team have not yet released a statement regarding the matter, however.
According to his Wikipedia page, D’banj, 42, also known as the Kokomaster, was born in Zaria, Kaduna State, north-west Nigeria, on June 9, 1980, to a military officer who oversaw an artillery regiment and a businesswoman from Shagamu, Ogun State, south-west Nigeria.
D’banj has been a part of the thriving Nigerian music industry since 2004 as a songwriter, performer, rapper, and television personality. He performs R&B, pop, hip-hop, and afrobeat music.
His debut single, “Tongolo,” was released in 2005, the same year that he and Don Jazzy returned to Lagos from the UK. D’Banj’s mother funded the music video. It was an immediate success and received high praise from critics all throughout the nation. His debut endorsement was for the energy drink Power Fist.
