A gospel musician, Biodun Badejo, popularly known as Jovani, has been slammed with a rape accusation by his female friend.
The unidentified lady, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she was not in a relationship with him though the singer had expressed his interest in dating her.
She said: “I am not his girlfriend. I am only his friend, even though he talks about dating sometimes but I’ve yet to give him a reply. He is a gospel musician truly but he feels he is well known abroad and not in Nigeria.”
The young woman, who is in her 20s, said she had gone with Badejo to buy a new phone and after that, she remembered she needed to use a laptop, which prompted her visit to his house at Fagbuyi Street, Ipaja, Lagos, so she could use his.
She said, “I told him to go with me to get a mobile phone around 5pm on Tuesday so we went there and we were done around past 6pm. I needed to do something with his laptop so I followed him to his place. Before then, he had gone to his mum’s place to get the key. When we got to his place, we entered his house, then he pulled down his boxers and I asked him why he was undressing in my presence. He said he wanted to bathe so I started fiddling with my phone while charging the new one.
“He came out of the bathroom with his towel and started touching me but I was telling him no. Before I knew what was happening, he became aggressive. I was begging him, crying seriously but he was like a different person. He took a belt and was threatening me. I ran into his bathroom, he pushed me to the wall and asked me to pull off my clothes and have a bath.
“I said no, I even had to lie to him that I had an infection. I told him I had HIV but he didn’t listen, he was bent on having me around for the night. I even sat on the extension box and said I would kill myself but he didn’t listen. He was still telling me to go to the bed. I struggled with him; I even have some bruises on my body. He forcefully had his way and I screamed but the neighbours didn’t respond. I don’t know why.”
She said after Badejo had his way, he opened the door and she ran out.
She said she went to Ipaja Police Station to file a complaint but had to leave because she was not comfortable with the questions the policewomen on duty were asking her.
“We went to the police station but I didn’t like the way they responded to me so I didn’t just want to write anything. They were asking me funny questions like, why didn’t I go to my own family? They asked what I was doing there so I just didn’t want to go further with the police thing so I left. In a way, they were blaming me.”
The victim said the police officers she met at the station were all females.
She continued, “I went to get my things from his house this morning: my phone, my shoes and my wig. I left them there the previous night when I ran away and I went back there this morning to pick it up. I even went to his mum’s house to beg her to tell her son to give me my things so I think she had an idea of what happened though I didn’t tell her the whole story. I went to the place, waited outside the gate and he brought them out. I took them and left. He complained that he had to take some drugs because I hit him in the face with the phone.”
The victim said she had been to the Mirabel Centre, a sexual assault referral centre, and seen a counsellor. She said she was getting better and that she had never had such an experience.
According to her, Badejo may have done something similar to someone else.
When SaharaReporters contacted the accused person, Badejo, he denied the allegation, stating that it was not rape but a ‘lovers’ quarrel’.
He claimed that they had consensual sex and so did not understand why it was being termed as rape.
Badejo said, “Actually, it’s not the way she said it, we had some chats and it makes it clear that we had a lot going on. She called me on the phone to come over and she said we should go to my place. We spent hours buying her phone. We went to Iyana Ipaja, she bought me some food, then she came to my mum’s place. We made it clear we were going to my place so it wasn’t assault or anything. I have a lot of evidence on my phone (showing) when we made it clear we were going to have sex.
“I did not rape her; she threw a phone at me that hit in the eye. My eye is still red and swollen. She scattered my house, it’s just a lovers’ quarrel. I don’t know why she is calling it rape. It was not rape and it was not an assault. I am being honest with you; she’s my babe, I like her, I love her but I don’t know what went through her mind.”
The mother of the accused also debunked the rape claims saying they were false.
She said the victim was only trying to blackmail her son.
She said, “We have evidence here and I’m going to contact my lawyer if she doesn’t stop blackmailing my son.
“I’m ready for her, she is a 419 (fraudster); we have all (the) evidence here on WhatsApp. You had better warn her. My son just picked interest in her. I even told her I wanted to marry her for my son but now I can see she is a 419. I am not an illiterate, I saw her as a responsible lady but she has proved otherwise.”