IGP orders investigation on D’Banj over rape allegations

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has stepped into the D’banj case and ordered an investigation on the music icon.

This is contained in a letter with reference number CB.7000/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOl.484/801 signed by the Principal Staff Officer to the IG, DCP Idowu Owohunwa.

The letter was addressed to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation Department, Area 10, Garki, Abuja.

The IG’s letter was in response to a petition written to the IG by Mr. Tommy Ojoge-Daniel, a lawyer to Miss Seyitan Babatayo, who accused D’Banj of raping her in 2018.

The letter written by the IG is titled, ‘Re: Petition Against (1) Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo (Aka D’Banj) for Rape Indecent Sexual Assault, Attempted Assault on Miss Seyitan Temidayo

The letter read in part, “I forward herewith copy of letter dated June 5, 2020 received from Ojoge, Omileye and Partners on the above underlined subject. I am to respectfully convey the directive of the Inspector-General of Police that you treat.

“Accept the assurances of my esteemed regards please.”

Seyitan’s friend, Benjamin Ese, in a Twitter thread in early June had told the story of how D’Banj allegedly raped Seyitan at a hotel two years ago – in December 2018.

She said it happened at an all-white party where D’Banj allegedly offered her friend some money to spend the night which she rejected until he surprisingly showed up in Seyitan’s hotel room around 2 in the midnight.

“D’Banj drove all the way from Eko hotel where he was lodged and came down to glee hotel in Victoria Island at midnight 2.40 am and collected the spare key from the receptionist,” Ese said in the thread which has since sparked an outrage.

She said D’Banj allegedly “got into my friend’s room and forcefully threatened he would walk her out of the room naked, kept his fingers in her vagina and repeatedly raped her.”

The rape experience, Ese said had caused Seyitan some trauma since the incident happened.

One month after Ese’s tweets, Seyitan came out publicly to present herself as the lady who was allegedly raped by D’Banj in December 2018.

The musician, however, denied the allegations levelled against him and asked his accuser to make a public apology and also pay him the sum of N100m in damages.

On Tuesday, however, some policemen allegedly acting on the instruction of the Oliver Twist crooner detained Seyitan for over 24 hours and intimidated her, making her delete all chats, social media posts and other vital information from her phone.

The incident has sparked an outrage on social media with D’Banj trending on social media for the last two days

D’Banj is one of Nigeria’s biggest artists having won several music awards, including the awards for Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007, Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009, Best International Act: Africa at the 2011 BET Awards, and Best-selling African Artist at the 2014 World Music Awards and the Evolution award at the 2015 MTV Africa Music awards.

Feminists and several rights groups have called on the police to ensure that justice is served regardless of the musician’s status.