Famous Nigerian musician, Oladapo Oyebanji, famously known as D'banj will remain in the detention facility of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over a fresh discovery of 20,000 ghost workers infused into the N-Power Programme, SaharaReporters has gathered.

The anti-graft agency detained D’banj on Tuesday over fraud allegations involving the N-Power Programme.

On June 8, 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the programme to address the issues of youth unemployment and empowerment, and also promote social development.

SaharaReporters earlier reported how top government officials introduced over 70,000 ghost workers into the N-Power Programme and fraudulently diverted billions of naira into their pockets.

“70,000 names were infused into N-Power by officials of the Buhari regime in the last four years.

“The fake list costs Nigeria N2.1 billion per year while original N-Power candidates are left unpaid,” a source had told the newspaper.

In June 2021, SaharaReporters reported that 14,000 beneficiaries of the N-Power programme were owed for five months.

N-Power is a youth empowerment scheme sponsored by the Nigerian Government under the Social Investment Program (SIP).

Other programmes under the scheme include Home Grown School Feeding, Tradermoni, Marketmoni and the Conditional Cash Transfer in the 36 states of the country.

SaharaReporters gathered that since the social investment programme of the government was moved to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, the minister, Sadiya Farouq, had been making attempts to stop some of the programmes under the scheme.

Aside from announcing that beneficiaries would be laid off, she had also refused to release funds for the school feeding programme in some states.

A source at the humanitarian ministry on Wednesday night told SaharaReporters that top government officials in President Buhari’s government have been using cronies to siphon funds under the social intervention programmes.

A source had confided in SaharaReporters that ICPC would release D’banj on Wednesday night after failing to successfully link the musician to the fraudulent activities in the N-Power Programme.

“D’banj will be released tonight by the ICPC. The agency is unable to link him concretely with fraudulent activities in N-Power,” a top source in the agency had told SaharaReporters.

However, the source on Thursday said investigators discovered a fresh list containing over 20,000 ghost names, tagged “D’banj’s list.”

He said the names were allegedly used to divert over N600 million monthly for over two years by government officials in connivance with the Nigerian musician.

The source however added that D’banj refuted the allegation and denied any knowledge of the list.

“Like I told you yesterday, D’banj was to be released last night but our (ICPC) Director of OperationS wasn’t available. So, his lawyers were asked to come back today,” he said.

“But our investigators just discovered another 20,000 N-Power list, so he (D’banj) will remain in detention.

“Today when his lawyers arrived for his release, they were told about this fresh list containing 20,000 names. This list was being used to divert N600 million monthly from Nigeria in the last two years by Buhari government officials. The list containing 20,000 names has been bleeding Nigeria N600 million monthly over the last two years.

“It’s named the D-banj’s list. He actually denied the list when he was interrogated by our officials. That’s the reason he wasn’t released as planned.”

“70,000 names were infused into N-Power by officials of the Buhari regime in the last four years.

“The fake list costs Nigeria N2.1 billion per year while original N-Power candidates are left unpaid,” a source had told the newspaper.

BeardedMeat:
Cheaphomes1 right now..

femisplash:
In Nigeria, being famous and popular could only open doors to you but being powerful would make people bow to you. Dbanj is famous but ain't powerful, so could easily be arrested that he is found wanting diverting 600 million monthly into his pocket, a recurring phenomenon that's most common among the powerful while they get away with it at a snap of the fingers. Unfortunately, there's no level playing field of justice, if there was, a Dbanj would not be in detention while s certain Peter Obi would be freed for diverting 250million monthly in state's funds to his Lagos office when his official car that ferried the money was grounded by the police... Obi got away with the crime.
Peter Obi also approached the court to stop the EndSars tribunal from summoning him to appear before it and give an account of his role in the killings of Anambra youths that were killed under his Administration. Unfortunately, same culprit is being championed by some gullible youths who are being deceived on social media. Obi got away with the crime.
In essence, the crime of Dbanj is that while he's popular and famous, he isn't powerful, otherwise he would have been kissing his wife every other nights as Peter Obi.

southsouthking:
Why me in Dbanj voice.

Islie:



Nigerian Anti-Corruption Agency, ICPC Discovers 20,000 More Ghost Names Infused Into N-Power Scheme Tagged “D’banj’s List”, Musician To Remain In Detention





https://saharareporters.com/2022/12/08/exclusive-nigerian-anti-corruption-agency-icpc-discovers-20000-more-ghost-names-infused


Nlfpmod

Penguin2:
Hmmmm

So Dbanj is a yam eater ?

No wonder we didn’t hear from him during the EndSARS.

femisplash:
In Nigeria, being famous and popular could only open doors to you but being powerful would make people bow to you. Dbanj is famous but ain't powerful, so could easily be arrested that he is found wanting diverting 600 million monthly into his pocket, a recurring phenomenon that's most common among the powerful while they get away with it at a snap of the fingers. Unfortunately, there's no level playing field of justice, if there was, a Dbanj would not be in detention while s certain Peter Obi would be freed for diverting 250million monthly in state's funds to his Lagos office when his official car that ferried the money was grounded by the police... Obi got away with the crime.
Peter Obi also approached the court to stop the EndSars tribunal from summoning him to appear before it and give an account of his role in the killings of Anambra youths that were killed under his Administration. Unfortunately, same culprit is being championed by some gullible youths who are being deceived on social media. Obi got away with the crime.
In essence, the crime of Dbanj is that while he's popular and famous, he isn't powerful, otherwise he would have been kissing his wife every other nights as Peter Obi.

rejoice4eva:
I'm perturbed about many people envious reasoning over this matter.
The Npower and other fraudulent Programme of this government is managed directly by a ministry. There is no middle men or contractor.. at least I remember when Keyamo was fighting war with lawmakers, on who will select people they want to share money to in the Local Governments,
How come, the minister and the other Officials swallowing government money are walking free, while a legitimate musician, who is not a consultant or beneficiary is been witch hunted?
I think it is a diversionary and face saving method of the corrupt government.
Was it Dbanj also that spend billions on school feeding during Covid 19?

femisplash:
In Nigeria, being famous and popular could only open doors to you but being powerful would make people bow to you. Dbanj is famous but ain't powerful, so could easily be arrested that he is found wanting diverting 600 million monthly into his pocket, a recurring phenomenon that's most common among the powerful while they get away with it at a snap of the fingers. Unfortunately, there's no level playing field of justice, if there was, a Dbanj would not be in detention while s certain Peter Obi would be freed for diverting 250million monthly in state's funds to his Lagos office when his official car that ferried the money was grounded by the police... Obi got away with the crime.
Peter Obi also approached the court to stop the EndSars tribunal from summoning him to appear before it and give an account of his role in the killings of Anambra youths that were killed under his Administration. Unfortunately, same culprit is being championed by some gullible youths who are being deceived on social media. Obi got away with the crime.
In essence, the crime of Dbanj is that while he's popular and famous, he isn't powerful, otherwise he would have been kissing his wife every other nights as Peter Obi.

rejoice4eva:
I'm perturbed about many people envious reasoning over this matter.
The Npower and other fraudulent Programme of this government is managed directly by a ministry. There is no middle men or contractor.. at least I remember when Keyamo was fighting war with lawmakers, on who will select people they want to share money to in the Local Governments,
How come, the minister and the other Officials swallowing government money are walking free, while a legitimate musician, who is not a consultant or beneficiary is been witch hunted?
I think it is a diversionary and face saving method of the corrupt government.
Was it Dbanj also that spend billions on school feeding during Covid 19?