Despite the court ruling in favour of Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), the Nigeria Police Force has vowed to continue investigating the rape allegation levelled against him by a celebrity photographer, Busola Dakolo.
KanyiDaily had earlier that Justice Othman A. Musa dismissed the rape case filed by Busola against Pastor Fatoyinbo, saying the matter amounted to injustice, and an abuse of judicial process as the case was empty and purely sentimental, adding that the case was aimed more at cruelty than obtaining justice.
The court also awarded costs of N1,000,000 against Busola Dakolo and held that the fine should have been 10 times more because the court’s time was wasted.
Reacting to the verdict in an interview with Punch, Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, said the force will continue investigation into the rape allegation because the court case was a civil one and therefore had no bearing on the Police probe.
Frank Mba noted that despite the judge’s dismissal of rape suit, Pastor Fatoyinbo would be charged if he is found culpable in the course of there investigation. He said:
“The position of the law in Nigeria, which is very clear, is that a criminal investigation and prosecution can run concurrently with a civil litigation.
“Failure in one does not foreclose the other. And so, we are going on with our own case and when we are done, we will keep Nigerians posted.”
She said she will appeal the judgement, noting that Fatoyinbo had only argued that the court should not allow the matter to proceed to trial because it is an event that occurred long ago and hence out of time.