Policemen attached to the IGP Intelligence Response Team have been accused of deleting chats and other vital information from the phone of Miss Seyitan Babatayo, a lady who accused D’Banj of rape.
Miss Babatayo’s lawyer, Tommy Ojoge-Daniel, made the allegation during a chat with newsmen on Wednesday.
Mr Ojoge-Daniel said his client was arrested by the policemen and taken to their Ikeja office where she remained incommunicado for over 24 hours.
He said while in custody, the lady’s phone was taken and her chats and other vital information were deleted by the police.
The lawyer described the incident as an attempt to intimidate his client who is, in fact, the victim.
Ojoge-Daniel said,
“She was in detention for over 24 hours for no particular reason. They tried to intimidate her and frustrate the course of investigation because we had submitted a petition to the IG.
“They deleted many things from her phone and tried to force her to say that she will not be pursuing a case against D’Banj.
“Even some of her posts on Instagram were deleted while she was in custody. She was released just this evening after we wrote a bail application.”
Miss Babatayo had accused D’Banj of raping her in a hotel on December 30, 2018.
The musician had, however, denied the allegation, demanding a public apology and the payment of N100m from his accuser.
The Police IRT Commander, Abba Kyari, could not be reached for comment as all his phones were switched off on Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Feminist Forum has condemned Miss Babatayo’s arrest.
The group said it was unfortunate that the police would treat a victim in such a manner.
The statement read in part,
“It has come to the attention of the Nigerian Feminist forum that Miss Babatayo Seyitan, a Nigerian woman who reported a sexual abuse perpetrated by Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo AKA Dbanj has been arrested.
“Miss 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.
“Miss Babatayo 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 deleted barring one.”
