Mike Ozekhome, the human rights lawyer, says the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) should have done
a thorough investigation before publicly accusing D’banj.
On Tuesday, the singer was detained by the ICPC, a few weeks
after he was summoned by the commission.
The ICPC said the singer was under investigation for
allegedly diverting funds meant for the N-Power project, a programme initiated
by the federal government in 2016 to address the country’s unemployment
challenges.
ICPC had alleged that the stipends meant for beneficiaries
of the initiative were paid to accounts linked to D’banj.
But on Friday, the ‘Fall in Love’ crooner was released —
after three days in detention — with his lawyers arguing that no evidence was
found on him.
In a statement, Ozekhome said the ICPC failed to do a
thorough probe before giving D’banj what he described as a “media trial”.
“Dbanj’s unnecessary detention for 3 whole days after
cooperating with the ICPC by voluntarily cutting short his full engagements in
South Africa, came to us as a big surprise,” the lawyer said.
“This is because he
was neither a fugitive fleeing from justice nor a defendant already undergoing
a trial and jumping bail.
“One would have expected that having voluntarily submitted
himself and answered the ICPC’s call from South Africa to enable him clear his
good name and solid reputation, by helping in its investigation, D’banj ought
to have been immediately released on administrative bail.
“Unfortunately, we witnessed the usual, now infamous media
trial for which the anti-corruption agencies are now known, through a
clandestine release to the public, skewed details concerning his invitation,
arrest, and illegal detention, with no scintilla of evidence found against him
after three days of interrogation.
“The ICPC ought to have first carried out a thorough
investigation before issuing a pre-emptive damaging press release which, by its
very screaming heading, had literally pronounced Dbanj guilty and culpable of
fanthom, unproven and unprovable allegations even before the investigation had
commenced.”
The federal ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster
management and social development earlier said it reported the alleged fraud in
the N-Power programme to the ICPC for investigation.
Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the permanent secretary of the ministry,
said “the sharp practices were carried out by some personnel of the payment
service provider,” hence the need to invite the ICPC for investigation.
Speaking on the development in the statement, Ozekhome
called on the anti-graft agency to “thoroughly investigate this matter by
inviting the minister who allegedly called in the ICPC, with all those alleged
collaborators, and make public their account details, including Dbanj’s account
details which are already in its possession.
“Where the ICPC finds the evident witch-hunting and name-dopping of Dbanj, the least expected of this distinguished agency is to tender a public apology to Dbanj. It is so cheap and very easy to hurriedly demonise and accuse an innocent person, especially where his accusers leverage on his celebrity status to attempt tearing him to pieces and fling him under a powerful government moving train. This attitude must stop.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com