founder of The Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Biodun Fatoyinbo
Nigeria: Dandified COZA Pastor accused of rape, adultery
An Abuja-based preacher, and founder of The Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Biodun Fatoyinbo has been accused of rape some 19 years ago by wife of a church member and singer, Timi Dakolo.
The fashionable and pastor has a string of accusations bordering on rape and adultery from his church members.
Dakolo’s wife, Busola, in an interview has spoken about how she survived a rape ordeal.
Some two weeks ago, Timi Dakolo accused the pastor of sleeping with married members of his church. Fatoyinbo, who has also been implicated in several sexual scandals, runs the Abuja headquarters of his church with his wife, Modele.
Mrs Dakolo opened up about her ordeal in a YouTube interview with Chude Jideonwo published on Friday by the channel, YNaija.
She explained that while a member of the church, she was raped at two different times in a week by the pastor.
Mrs Dakolo alleged that the pastor raped her for the first time at her parent’s home and at another time in a secluded road path. She said the incidents occurred before she turned 18 and added that she lost her virginity to him.
According to the women, Mr Fatoyinbo convinced her through gifts of books and cassette tapes to keep attending their club when she was back home from school.
Detailing the circumstances that led to her being raped for the first time, Mrs Dakolo said, “Fatoyinbo showed up at our house unannounced. It was a Monday morning early and I was still in my nightgown. My mother had travelled with my sisters and were absent at service the previous Sunday.
“He didn’t say a word, forced me onto a chair, speaking only to command me to do as he said. It took me a while to come to terms with what was about to happen, and it was why I didn’t struggle or make a fuss when he pulled down my underwear and raped me.”
She added that he did not say anything after, left to his car, returned with a bottle of Krest and forced her to drink it, probably as some crude contraceptive.
She said she recalled him saying,“You should be happy that a man of God did this to you.”
She said at this time, his wife had just given birth to their first child, Oluwashindara.
The interview comes after her husband, Timi, called out the pastor over his alleged sexual relationship with female church members, even as he encouraged other victims who have gone through the experience to speak up.
Mrs Dakolo said she spoke up because her husband put up a social media post on Instagram, accusing the Nigerian clergy of condoning rape and sexual assault.
She said some people had approached her husband anonymously about the pastor targeting underage girls for sexual relationships and he felt obligated to publicly speak on their behalf.
Mrs Dakolo also said she was motivated to speak up about her rape incident after a social media post from an anonymous account insinuated that she had been promiscuous as a teenager and had affairs with pastors when she lived in Ilorin and questioned the paternity of her children.
Timi’s posts created intense backlash and support and sparked rumours about who the subject of his post was and who the victims were.
Back in 2013, the flamboyant pastor was also entangled in an allegation of infidelity with Ese Walter, a former member of the church.
Ms Walter had set social media ablaze after she alleged in a blog post that she had a week-long sexual relationship with the pastor during his London visit.
According to Ms Walter, after arranging for a taxi to pick up Mr Fatoyinbo from the airport during his visit to London, the pastor invited her to his hotel and offered her alcohol.
Ms. Walter, who admitted that the relationship was consensual, however, said she felt “abused and manipulated” by Mr Fatoyinbo and the fleeting manner the church’s leadership handled the affair after she raised it with another pastor in the church.
She said she went public with the story when she could no longer withstand the “psychological abuse.”
The incident snowballed into a huge sexual scandal that many thought would destabilise the church.
In another of such allegation, Mr Fatoyinbo was accused of having an amorous relationship with a married woman.