The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency has explained that prosecuting singer Simi over her resurfaced decade-old tweets would be extremely difficult without a survivor willing to come forward and formally report the matter.
Executive Secretary of the agency, Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, made this known during an appearance on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Thursday. She said the presence of a complainant is crucial to initiating legal proceedings and urged anyone who may have been affected to step forward.
“As for the Simi case, we cannot pretend that we have not seen these reports. We have a duty to at least begin a preliminary investigation,” Vivour-Adeniyi said.
She noted, however, that prosecution would remain unlikely in the absence of a survivor prepared to officially report the incident.
“The truth is that it will be very difficult to prosecute without a survivor being present,” she added.
The agency confirmed it has referred the matter to the Commissioner of Police to conduct preliminary investigations. Vivour-Adeniyi explained that the referral was necessary because the events allegedly occurred at a creche facility managed by the singer’s mother, raising safeguarding and child protection concerns.
“In terms of Simi gates, some people have been asking what the institutions are doing. I can speak for what Lagos State is doing. We have been observing, and because we had seen some tweets far back as 2012, some in 2013, and there were talks about some tweets being doctored, we have referred the case to the Commissioner of Police to at least conduct some preliminary investigations,” she said.
The controversy erupted after screenshots of Simi’s decade-old posts from 2012 and 2013 resurfaced on X. In one tweet, she wrote about a four-year-old boy at her mother’s daycare having a “crush” on her, while another mentioned a child attempting to put a hand inside her shirt .
In a defiant response posted on her X handle on Sunday, Simi clarified that the tweets were innocent observations from her life as a 23-year-old helping out at her mother’s business while struggling to make it in the music industry.
“In 2012, I lived and helped out at my mom’s daycare while I was hustling my music. I tweeted everything that happened in my life, as we all did at the time. Kids can be mischievous. If a child did something I found funny, I tweeted about it. Kids are cute and lovable. I want to hug, kiss and cuddle them. I tweet about it. Nothing I tweeted was from perversion,” she said .
She accused social media users of twisting her story to fit “false narratives” and maintained that her activism against sexual violence is not a “costume” but a core part of her identity .
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) had earlier urged members of the public with credible information regarding the allegations to submit evidence to the agency .
The DSVA reassured the public that it remains available to provide confidential support and guidance to any survivor willing to report, and encouraged anyone with information to come forward through its official channels .
