Popular Nigerian singer, Dapo Oyebanji, popularly known as, D’banj, has opened up on the allegation of fraud he was arrested for by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission.
D’banj was detained on Tuesday over alleged involvement in diversion of hundreds of millions of naira from the Federal Government’s empowerment programme, popularly known as N-Power.
According to the ICPC, he allegedly connived with some government officials to enlist ghost beneficiaries whose stipends were being paid into an account linked to him.
Though D’banj has denied any involvement in the fraud, he was held by the ICPC until Friday afternoon when he was released.
Following his release after about 72 hours in the custody of anti-graft agency, the artist took to his Instagram page on Friday to explain his innocence.
Bangalee, as he is fondly called, stated that he was invited to an ongoing crime investigation and has been helpful to the ICPC in their findings to unravel the truth.
He also thanked his fans for their support and emphasized that to he only thing he did wrong was “chop life”.
He said, “Global thank you to the world. I was invited on an ongoing investigation in ICPC. I have assisted the commission with all I know and I am confident in their capacity to unravel the truth. I have no business with fraud, all I do is chop life. I was released on self-recognition because nothing was seen or found on me. God bless you all my people.”.
While announcing his release on Friday, the counsel to the artist, Pelumi Olajengbesi, also denied all allegations against his client, stating that his client was detained for 72 hours over false allegation.
He said, “It is instructive to note that the ICPC released D’banj) on self-recognition after the agency could not find anything incriminating on him.
“Nigerians must be told the truth that D’banj) is clean and have no criminal or fraud record. It, however, an embarrassment to the entire country that such a huge allegation of N900m fraud against a public figure without any evidence.
“The ICPC Chairman, Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN) and the entire officers of the ICPC must be deeply sad and embarrassed also that their decent organization was used for such a shameful publicity against an innocent man. Only few organizations and persons stood and waited to verify the claims. This form of media trial is evil.
“The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, who claimed to have instructed the ICPC to detain D’banj must now be ready to explain to world the money traced to his account and the amount.
“We still demand that the minister provide the details of the government authority D’banj allegedly collaborated with and provide the account and N-power funds allegedly traced to Dbanj’s account.
“This is injustice and upon the instruction of our client, we may head to court to seek redress, a public apology and compensation from the ICPC. The detention of D’banj is an injustice having that the ICPC found nothing incriminating traced to his innocent personality.
“This is to say a big thank you to Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and my Learned Senior Barr. Babs Akinwumi for the leadership.”
