Seyitan Babatayo, the woman who accused the singer Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, of rape, has published a statement describing the timing of events since she came out with her story.
In the statement, Seyitan insisted that she was raped by D’banj. She also claimed that he arrested and intimidated her after she came out with her story, and then threatened that he could “buy anyone within the Lagos judicial system.
In her statement, Seyitan insisted that she had been “raped and defiled” by D’banj after he allegedly gained access to her hotel room on December 30, 2018.
She said she was forced to publish her story on June 3, 2020 to call out D’banj in his “hypocrisy” after he went online to write a post about “saying no to rape”.
She added that she went to the Bar Beach police station on Victoria Island on June 6, 2020 to make a formal report, but she was not served. She said her attempt was “thwarted by an officer of the law at said police barracks.
On June 16, she said that 4 armed police officers stormed her apartment and arrested her without a warrant. She said that they had gained access by pretending to be delivery boys.
She revealed that her mother had not been arrested as she claimed.
According to Seyitan, she was put in a police cell with criminals and no one reported her crime. She claims that the following day, June 17, she was made to sign a “gag order” by the police and D’banj’s team, and that she “could only post in social media what was approved by D’banj’s team.
She said she was then released and D’banj’s team allegedly picked her up and took her to a secret location where she was “personally isolated, coerced, pressured and intimidated by D’banj and his team”.
She said they allegedly seized her social media accounts and forced her to say that her statement was a publicity stunt.
She said her mother, lawyer and friends could not reach her until activists went into action and tracked her using satellite maps.
Seyitan added that “since June 18, D’banj has continued to harass me through his team. She added that they also made threats.
Seyitan said she had never advocated financial gain. She said that at the time she came out of the closet, she only asked for an apology through her lawyers. She insists that the apology is all she is still asking for.
She said she is still dealing with the “effects of the rape, the trauma I have told several times this week, and the humiliation of being held against my will for two (2) days.
“I still have to come to terms with the fact that my basic human rights have been stolen from me,” Seyitan said.
She added that no one should be subjected to what she has been through, from “the violent abuse that happened to me in a hotel room where the door was locked, to the intimidation of me for speaking up,” she said.
“Most importantly, no one should have the right to use their name or status to intimidate survivors who speak out or to abuse justice,” she said.
She thanked those who stood by her and asked for time for healing.
Read her press release below.