Nigerian music star, Oyebanjo Dapo also known as D’banj has settled with Seyitan Babatayo, the 25-year-old woman who accused him of raping her. According to her, D’banj allegedly forced his way into her room and raped her in 2018.
In the latest development on the case, Stand To The End Rape (STER), a nonprofit organisation geared towards helping rape victims who were involved in the case have released a statement that revealed that D’banj and the accuser reached a non monetary settlement.
On the 13th of July 2020, Ms Babatayo informed Ster that a non-monetary agreement was reached with D’banj’s team in the statement, Ster said they refused to be involved in talks over a settlement as it goes against the organisation’s policy.
“Such settlements in our experience often involve an asymmetry of power between the accused and the victim more unfortunately, while private settlements are usual in civil disputes, they are however not applicable to criminal cases, particularly where a felony has been alleged to have been committed, only the state has the authority to discontinue a criminal investigation and prosecution”, the statement noted.
In their response however, Ms Babatayo’s legal representatives Olamide Ogunleye of Ojo Omilaye and partners told The Tide source that the only agreement reached was that both parties are going to stand down media trials and allow the law to take its course.
He said both parties have agreed to desist from making any post or leaking any information to the public and allow the police to carry out their investigation.
There are also reports that the case has been dismissed, but the police has not made any statement to that effect.
After the accusation, D’banj faced further scrutiny after Babatayo revealed that she was arrested by police on the musician’s order and forced to delete the social media posts with which she first revealed the accusation.
She went on to file a criminal charge against D’banj while the former musician’s manager, Amudo also came out to corroborate her claims.