Seyitan Babatayo, the woman who accused singer Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, of rape, has released a statement detailing the timeline of events since she came out with her story.
Seyitan insisted, in the statement, that D’banj raped her. She also said that after she came out with her story, he arrested and harassed her and then threatened to “buy off anyone within the Lagos justice system.
Seyitan insisted in her statement that D’banj “violated and raped” her after he allegedly gained entry to her hotel room on 30 December 2018.
She said that on June 3, 2020 she was forced to come out with her statement, calling D’banj out in his “hypocrisy” after he went online to post “say no to rape.”
He added that he went to the Victoria Island Bar Beach Police Station on June 6, 2020 to do a formal report but was not attended to. She said she tried “thwarted by an officer of the law at the said police barracks”.
She said four armed police officers stormed her apartment on June 16, and arrested her without a warrant. They gained entry by pretending to be delivery guys, she said.
She revealed that her mother was not arrested as claimed.
She was put with criminals in a police cell and no one revealed her crime, according to Seyitan. She says that the next day, 17 June, the police and D’banj ‘s team had made her sign a “gag order” and she “could only post on social media what had been approved by D’banj’s team”.
She said she was released and she was allegedly picked up by D’Banj ‘s team and taken to an undisclosed location where she was “isolated, coerced, pressured, and intimidated in person by D’banj and his team.”
She said they alleged took hold of her social media accounts and forced her to say that her statement was a publicity stunt.
She said she could not reach her mother, her lawyer and her friends until activists swung into action and tracked her using satellite mapping.
Seyitan added “since June 18th, D’banj through his team has continued to harrass me.” She added that they also make threats.
Seyitan said she was never trying to make a financial gain. She said she just called for an apology through her lawyers at the time she came forward. He maintains the apology is what she is still waiting for.
She said she’s still dealing with the “effects of the rape, the trauma of recounting that multiple times this week and the indignity of being held against my will for two (2) days.”
“I’m still yet to come to terms with the fact that my fundamental human rights were stolen from me,” Seyitan said.
She added that no one should be subjected to what she has been through, from “the violent abuse which happened to me in a hotel room that the door was locked to being intimidated for speaking up.” she said
“Most importantly, nobody should have the right to use their name or status to intimidate survivors who speak out or to tamper with justice.”
She thanked those who stood by, and asked for time to heal.
Her full press statement is as shown below:
