Seyitan Babatayo, who accused popular Nigerian singer,
D’banj, of raping her has been ‘forced’ to delete her tweets detailing her
encounter with the singer in 2018.
Ms Babatayo’s lawyer, Olamide Omileye of Ojoge, Omileye, and
Partners, told this newspaper that their client deleted the tweets under duress
while in police custody on Tuesday.
According to him, Ms Babatayo was forced to post new tweets
claiming that she was not arrested and that she wanted to move on from
everything.
“They forced her to make those new tweets when she was in
custody. They forced her to delete all her tweets and intimidated the hell out
of her life,” he said.
Recall that Ms. Babatayo was picked up by policemen from
Sodipo command as confirmed by her legal representatives.
Ms. Babatayo’s lawyers also said the issue has escalated
beyond her expectations as she was only out “to speak her truth, tell her story
so everybody can move on”.
“The girl has been so traumatised since she was released.
She couldn’t believe it. When she was relating what happened to us yesterday,
she was crying so much that.
“She said she slept in the same room, on the floor with
criminals. She couldn’t believe that she was made to go through that by the
Nigerian Police, just because she wanted to tell her own story,” they said.
The Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, did
not pick calls to his mobile and had yet to reply to an inquiry on Ms
Babatayo’s allegations as of press time.
Group condemns arrest
A biennial public policy forum, Nigerian Feminist Forum, in
a statement on Wednesday strongly condemned Ms. Babatayo’s arrest.
They described her arrest as an attempt to “victimise,
silence, intimidate and subject her to cruel and degrading treatment.”
“Ms Babatayo made this report on twitter a few weeks ago and
on June 16, 2020, was arrested by men of the Nigerian police force at the
Sodipo Command, Ikeja, Lagos.
“She was detained for many hours and access to her lawyer
and other activists willing to intervene was denied. During the course of
detention, her phone was allegedly confiscated while her tweets accusing
Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo have been deleted, barring one,” their statement partly
read.
The group also added that it is important to create an
opportunity for victims of sexual assault to report and out their abusers in a
pursuit for justice.
“Law enforcement officials should not be used by persons
with perceived popularity or power to abuse persons who might have a legitimate
claim against them,” their release read in part.
The group also told this newspaper that their planned press
conference scheduled for Thursday morning in Lagos, has been suspended. According
to them, Ms. Babatayo was expected to address the media at the gathering.
“Ms. Babatayo is not in a good frame of mind. She is broken
after what she went through on Tuesday. Her detention and the intimidation she
received from the police have really devastated her, “ the group explained.
Background
A Nigerian model scout, Benjamin Ese, alleged that D’banj
(real name Dapo Oyebanjo) raped his friend on December 31, 2018, at Glee Hotel
in Victoria Island, Lagos.
After the accusation made on June 3, the lady came out to
reveal herself and give her account of her encounter with D’banj.
She, thereafter, demanded a public apology from the
entertainer through her lawyers.
On June 15, D’banj, through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, sued
Ms Babatayo and demanded N100 million as compensation for falsely accusing him
of rape.
In a letter signed by Mr Ozekhome, a senior advocate of
Nigeria, and addressed to Ms Babatayo’s lawyers, the singer demanded that his
accuser pays the sum within 48 hours or risk legal action.
In the same letter, the singer also demanded that a letter
of apology and retraction of her statements be written by his accuser and
published in four national dailies.
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