The
Senior Pastor of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, Biodun Fatoyinbo, on
Friday, approached a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting
at Bwari, adducing reasons why the suit alleging that he forcefully
raped Busola, wife of celebrity musician, Timi Dakolo in 2002, should be
dismissed.
In a preliminary objection he filed through his team
of lawyers led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Iziyon, the
embattled cleric, maintained that Busola’s suit was frivolous and
statute barred.
He argued that all the reliefs Busola sought against him in the suit marked CV/2817/18, were not grantable.
It
will be recalled that Mrs. Dakolo had in a Writ of Summons she filed
before the court on September 6, alleged that the COZA pastor had on
September 23, 2002, raped her.
She told the court that the pastor
forcefully pushed her until she fell on the couch close to the front
door of her house after which he pinned her to the couch, undressed her,
“caressing her body, handling her breasts, exposing his genitals to her
glare, forcing a bottle of soda (Krest) down her throat thereby making
her breathing difficult, all the while covering her mouth to muffle her
screams, and thereafter threatened her life”.
The claimant
equally alleged that the defendant sexually abused her again on
September 26, 2002, even as she urged the court to declare that pastor
Fatoyinbo’s action was “outrageous and reckless, and have caused the
Claimant continuous emotional distress and amount to intentional
infliction of emotional distress”.
Aside praying the court to
direct the defendant to publish a “clearly worded apology” to her on the
front page of at least two National Newspapers and two National
Televisions for seven days running consecutively, Mrs. Dakolo, aslo
demanded that the defendant should be compelled to address a personal
letter of apology to her showing honest remorse “for his misdeeds”.
More so, she prayed the court to award her a cost of N10million.
Meanwhile, in his preliminary objection, pastor Fatoyinbo maintained that the suit was grossly incompetent.
He
further argued that the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain a
suit that is frivolous and amounted to “palpable abuse of court
process”.
In a 14-paragraphed affidavit that was deposed to by
one Ademola Adetuberu who identified himself as Executive Senior
Assistant to Pastor Fatoyinbo, he told the court that the substratum of
the claimant’s suit was “the mere purported allegation of emotional and
psychological distress as a result of the said purported mere allegation
of rape against the Defendant”.
‘That I am aware that the
Claimant made an allegation of rape and emotional distress before the
Nigeria Police Force against the Defendant which is still a subject of
investigation”.
He told the court that Mrs. Dakolo and her lawyer
had after they filed the suit, leaked the documents to both electronic
and print media organizations, with the story widely shared on the
internet “to embarrass and scandalize the Defendant”.
Consequently,
in his counter-claim, Pastor Fatoyinbo prayed the court to award a cost
of N50m, jointly and severally against the Claimant and her Solicitor.
Busola
had about two months ago, made a shocking revelation in a detailed
interview with Chude Jideonwo, a lawyer and journalist, recounting how
as a teenager, she was allegedly repeatedly raped by the Abuja-based
cleric.
Pastor Fatoyinbo had since denied the allegation, insisting that it was a deliberate effort to damage his reputation.