Pastor Bayo Oladeji, media aide of the President of Christian Association of Nigeria Rev Samson Ayokunle, said the image of the Nigerian church has been dented by the rape allegation and the court proceedings.

He said “While we note that the image of the Nigerian Church and its leadership was dented before and during the court proceedings, CAN urges Pastor Fatoyinbo and Mrs Dakolo, to put away all that has transpired and reconcile.  The Church  preaches forgiveness and reconciliation, and that is our position as the umbrella body of Christians in the country. We begrudge neither Pastor Fatoyinbo nor Busola Dakolo, and urge them to extend a similar hand of love and fellowship to each other”.

Pastor Fatoyinbo in a statement released on his behalf by his Senior Executive Assistant Pastor Ademola Adetuberu, dedicated his victory to God and those that stood by him.

“The victory is of the Lord. We dedicate it to those who stand by us. The victory belongs to God not to me or COZA. We will not share in His glory. The enemies are after the Church and not after me per se. They only used me as a scapegoat to launch the attacks. We know that faithful is He who has called us.  I salute the courage and the support of my beautiful and godly wife, my lovely children, members of COZA family and those who stand by us. May God be praised in your life. I bear no grudge against those who were used by the adversary of the Church but instead, I pray for them that we should come together to fight the common enemies of the Church. My soul goes to men who are wrongly accused and women who are or have been abused. May God heal the wounds of everyone of us in Jesus Name”.

According to the activist, Busola and Timi Dakolo received a call last night from their lawyers about the judge’s ruling on the preliminary objection today November 14

Read his posts below;
Update: Busola Dakolo V. Biodun Fatoyinbo. The clerk called the lawyers of Busola Dakolo late last night notifying them of the judge’s ruling on the preliminary objection today. As expected, a mockery of our processes and law was the case as the drama unfolds.
A Nigerian Court that claims twice it cannot find processes on Busola Dakolo vs Biodun Fatiyinbo’s case suddenly calls for ruling on preliminary application and declares that the matter is statute barred and that it cannot address the substance of the matter because…… it happened a long ago. A Court cannot declare a matter statute barred when it has been shown that the legal injury is a continuous one.
The court is duty bound to consider the statement of claim and reliefs sought and where it has been shown that the legal injury is of a continuous nature the court is duty bound to hear it. We know that the struggle to sanitize Nigeria of all these social madness will not come easily
It will even be far more ludicrous if it is announced that the judge went ahead to award damages in Millions to the accused who is still preying on young girls as alleged by survivors being threatened and bribed on the daily to keep mute. What a society! #Shame

Busola in a tell-all interview released in June, accused Fatoyinbo of raping her when she was a teenager attending his church in Ilorin, Kwara state.

The clergyman in August faced questioning by the police at the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Garki Area 10, Abuja, where he was grilled by a team of detectives led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Adaku Anya.

Pastor Biodun was grilled for eight hours yesterday August 27, by detectives at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Abuja, in connection with the rape allegations levelled against him by Timi Dakolo’s wife, Busola Dakolo.

Fatoyinbo was granted administrative bail around 9pm on Tuesday but is still in police custody as he is yet to meet his bail conditions.

Frank Mba, the police force spokesperson said “He is still with us, but I can’t say if he would be released tonight. It depends on if he meets the bail conditions that would be given to him, but he has been granted administrative bail.”

Apart from Fatoyinbo, two witnesses: Mr. Wole Soetan, pastor of COZA Port Harcourt branch; and Mr. Folarin Ogunsola, who is in charge of COZA Lagos branch, were also grilled by the police detectives

Sources confirmed that Dakolo was also being interviewed by detectives to shed more light on the alleged rape which reportedly occurred when she was a teenager.

This is coming weeks after the cleric shunned an invitation extended to him by police officers probing the allegations.

The flamboyant pastor had also shunned a panel set up by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria to investigate the rape allegations, stating that he was advised by his lawyers not to appear before the panel because it was prejudiced and may not conduct an impartial session.

The cleric in a statement last Friday, however, said he could appear before the panel after the police investigations.

The PFN had disclosed on Thursday that its probe into the allegations against Fatoyinbo was inconclusive because he failed to honour the invitation to appear before the panel.

But the Senior Assistant to the COZA Pastor, Ademola Adetuberu, in a statement in Abuja on Friday, disclosed that the legal advice was also premised on the statement issued and personally signed by the PFN President, Bishop Felix Omobude, “where our Pastor was publicly disowned.”

When contacted, the deputy Force spokesman, Adeniran Aremu promised to find out and provide an update on the interrogations.

The PFN said because he refused to appear before the panel, the probe had been declared inconclusive.

According to PFN National Publicity Secretary, Bishop Emma Isong, who spoke with newsmen in Lagos on Thursday, Busola and her husband, Timi Dakolo appeared before the panel while Fatoyinbo did not.

Busola Dakolo had accused Fatoyinbo of raping her 20 years ago in Ilorin, Kwara State when she was still 17 years old leading Fatoyinbo to step down briefly from the alter, but all seems to have returned to normal now.

The incident reportedly happened three weeks after she had filed a rape allegation against the Senior Pastor of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, Biodun Fatoyinbo.

The UK Guardian reported, “The charges against the Dakolos were brought by a special police branch in a counter-case filed by COZA, despite investigations stalling on the initial case.”

In an interview with The UK Guardian, Mrs. Dakolo said on the day of her encounter with the policemen who she said trailed her to her home in a silver Toyota and white minibus with tinted glass, she was asked to sign a letter.

She noted that neither vehicle had any Police markings.

According to Dakolo, a man appeared and told her to get out of the car, get into the bus and speak to his boss. A request she claimed to have rejected.

Busola said that was when three men got out of the minibus and walked towards her.

“One was holding a gun, and I noticed a second one holding a letter.

“They told me they were from IG’s (Inspector-General of Police) office in Abuja and that I needed to sign the letter and acknowledge it,” she said.

The letter purportedly contained allegations of criminal conspiracy, falsehood, mischief and threat to life.

The UK Guardian did not claim to have spoken with any Police authority over the incidence. Rather, it stated, “In response to condemnation of the delivery of the Dakolos’ letters, the Nigerian Police Force put out a statement saying: ‘A Police invitation letter is not synonymous with a warrant of arrest, and must not be construed to be one.

“Rather, it is a polite investigative tool used in eliciting information voluntarily from parties to aid police investigations.’”

The medium added that the charges against the Dakolos were brought by “a special Police branch in a counter-case filed by Coza, despite investigations stalling on the initial case.”

Insideojodu recalls that Busola had accused Fatoyinbo of sexually assaulting her in her mother’s house about 20 years ago when she was a teenager and a minor, claiming that the act was repeated at least once thereafter.

The incident led to the protest of COZA by human rights activists, sequel to which Fatoyinbo temporarily stepped down.

The pastor denied Busola’s claims, saying, “Even as an unbeliever, I did not rape anybody.”

Meanwhile, Fatoyinbo resumed his duties at COZA after a month of announcing his decision to step down.

Mr Femi Falana, made the revelation during a telephone conversation with The PUNCH newspaper.

Falana told Punch that the IG had assured that justice would be done in the matter. He also said the case would be brought to Lagos because the family were the first to petition the police.

The human rights agency raised an alarm over an alleged disturbing pattern, in which authorities respond to allegations of sexual abuse.

It also recounted past incidents, in which victims of rape were reportedly subjected to arrest and intimidation by the Nigerian police.

They tweeted these;

Security and safety of Timi & Busola Dakolo rest with Nigerian authorities. Intimidating victims of sexual abuse using @ PoliceNG is a new low in Nigeria’s spate of impunity.

Intimidating victims of sexual abuse using @ PoliceNG is a new low in Nigeria’s spate of impunity. In Feb. armed SARS officers arrested Maryam Awaisu of

#ArewaMeToo in Kaduna and dragged her to Abuja, at the instance of a person widely accused of rape & sexual 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@PoliceNG

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 & 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 Nigeria Police @ PoliceNG dispatching anti-robbery squads to pick up victims of sexual abuse who refused to be silent is unacceptable.