Afrobeats Star D’banj Arrested for Eating Youth Money

Nigeria’s Afrobeats star D’banj has been locked up after allegations surfaced pinning the music artist for being greedy and eating money meant for the unemployed youth.

According to BBC, D’banj is accused of stealing millions of dollars meant to help Nigerian youth facing high unemployment rates start their own businesses. Things took a drastic turn after someone reported the money missing.

The artist, who claimed to be the brand ambassador for the N-Power youth scheme, presented himself to authorities after the allegations came out. The N-Power initiative was launched in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari but many beneficiaries have complained for months that they were not receiving their grants.

After several months of complaints, Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency decided to step in and find out what was going on at the N-Power initiative only to reveal that billions of naira had been chewed by D’banj. The anti-corruption agencies said in a statement on Wednesday that “billions of naira” had been diverted.

Lawyers representing D’banj – whose real name is Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo – have denied a claim by the anti-corruption agency that their client had ignored multiple summonses from youth about their grant money. They said the artist willingly turned himself in on Tuesday and will cooperate with the investigation.

More than two million Nigerians aged between 18 and 35 have benefited from the N-Power scheme since it was launched, according to the government. At least $629 million were distributed in 2019 to beneficiaries who started small businesses, the authorities said.

Could D’banj end up in prison?

According to reports from the anti-corruption agency, ten other people, as well as D’banj, are being investigated for stealing money meant for the youth.

“The investigation will be all-encompassing and extended to other collaborators of the fraud and the banks where the beneficiaries’ accounts are domiciled,” a statement read.

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, which oversees N-Power, said it had no official engagement with the artist and that his claims to be an ambassador for the scheme were misleading. The artist released a statement on Wednesday saying the allegations against him were not true neither was the arrest.

Part of the statement read:

“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, and 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.”

D’banj’s 2012 hit Oliver Twist won him fans across the continent and in the diaspora. Two years ago his one-year-old son drowned in a pool at his home in the commercial city of Lagos.