Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the probe of the policemen who allegedly arrested D’banj‘s rape accuser, Seyitan Babatayo.
The IGP gave the order in a letter signed on his behalf by his Principal Staff Officer, DCP Idowu Owohunwa and addressed to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation Department, Garki, Abuja.
It would be recalled that a journalist, Kiki Mordi had raised an alarm on Twitter about the arrest of the lady.
The letter was sequel to a petition written by Seyitan’s lawyer, Ojoge, Omileye and Partners last week.
In the IGP’s letter is titled “Re: Petition Against Inspector Abraham, Supol Ugowe and the Entire Police Officers Team at Ikeja, Lagos Division of the Inspector General of Police”.
According to the letter, the IGP asked that the petition from Seyitan Babatayo‘s lawyer be addressed.
In the petition written by Ojoge, Omileye and Partners, policemen attached to the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) arrested Seyitan on the directive of the singer and detained her for over 24 hours.
It also stated that police officers denied her access to her phone, lawyers, adding that she was subjected to intimidation and psychological torture by the policemen.
The petition reads in part;
On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, our client was arrested alongside a friend, Favour, at her residence in Lagos by the officers of the Ikeja IGP IRT. The arrest was without any warrant and neither our client nor her friend, Favour, was informed of the reasons for their arrest.
According to our client, she was told to write a statement denying ever meeting with Mr. Oyebanjo (D’Banj) and to also state that she lied against the person of Mr. Oyebanjo. In actual fact, our client was about to write the statement which she believed would be a basis for her release when the counsel came in and stopped her from writing such a statement.
The counsel further informed the policemen that all actions to the alleged rape of our client in December 2018 by Mr. Oyebanjo have been transferred to the DIG FCID for a thorough investigation and that they need to stay the action.
The petition added that the counsel told the policemen to release his client, promising to bring her back to the station when she is needed, but the policemen refused, saying Seyitan had not yet spent 24 hours in custody.
The lawyer, Tommy Ojoge-Daniel, alleged that D’Banj’s manager, Damien Okoroafor, was physically present at the police station the next day.
He said by Okoroafor’s instigation, the police refused to release Seyitan and threatened to approach a magistrate court to obtain a remand order to detain Seyitan for two weeks.
Ojoge-Daniel in his petition stated that Seyitan was forced to delete all social media posts she had made about D’Banj and made to make a public statement absolving D’Banj of rape, which he said she did to gain her freedom.
Read Also: Alleged Rape: I Was Intimidated By Dbanj To Retract My Statement – Seyitan’s Official Statement
Seyitan has accused D’Banj of raping her in Glee Hotel, Lagos in December 2018.
The lady was arrested after the singer denied the allegation and demanded an apology and N100m compensation from his accuser.
