COZA: Amnesty International Blasts Police For Invading Timi Dakolo's House

Posted by Samuel on Mon 22nd Jul, 2019 - tori.ng

The Amnesty International has attacked the Nigeria Police for invading Timi Dakolo's home recently.

Timi and wife, Busola

Amnesty International, a global human rights organisation, says the attempt by the Nigeria Police Force to intimidate and harass the Dakolos is showing a disturbing trend on how victims of s*xual assault are treated in the country.

The human right organisation said this via its Twitter handle on Saturday.

Armed policemen had stormed the residence of Dakolos on Saturday to take them to the police headquarters in Abuja.

Following a public outcry, the police later said the visit was to invite Busola Dakolo for an investigation of matters of criminal conspiracy, falsehood, mischief and threat to life.

Busola had accused Biodun Fatoyinbo, the founder of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, commonly (COZA) of raping her when she was a teenager.

Fatoyinbo repeatedly denied all the allegations.

Reacting to the police invasion of the Dakolos house, the Nigerian chapter of Amnesty International said intimidating victims of sexual abuse with the use of the police was a new low in the country’s cases of impunity.

“Attempts to intimidate and harass Timi and Busola Dakolo by the Nigeria Police show a disturbing pattern of how authorities respond to allegations of sexual abuse. In February, armed SARS officers arrested Maryam Awaisu of #ArewaMeToo in Kaduna and dragged her to Abuja, at the instance of a person widely accused of r*pe and s*xual abuse.

“For too long, Nigeria’s women have been facing various kinds of sexual violence that seldom receives proper attention from the country’s law enforcement agencies. It is unacceptable that women seeking justice end up intimidated by Nigeria Police.

“It is unacceptable that women seeking justice for sexual abuse are subjected to arrest and intimidation by a unit of police whose remit is armed robbery. We fear that these actions may prevent victims of sexual violence from pursuing justice.

“In the face of rising sexual abuse of women and girls across Nigeria, for how long will women be continuously subjected to intimidation and forced silence in the face of injustice? When will the injustice end?

“This pattern of Nigerian police dispatching anti-robbery squads to pick up victims of sexual abuse who refused to be silent is unacceptable.”