Biodun Fatoyinbo, the Abuja-based pastor of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) has a notoriety for infidelity and sexual assault, according to reports.
In 2013, the clergy popularly called “Gucci Pastor,” because of his flamboyant fashion style, was also entangled in an allegation of infidelity with Ese Walter, a former member of the church.
Walter, now married, had set social media ablaze after she alleged in a blog post that she had a week-long sexual dalliance with the pastor during a visit to London.
Walter later said that her romance with Fatoyinbo was consensual, but added she felt “abused and manipulated” by him and the passive manner the church’s leadership handled the issue after she complained.
Then followed music star Timi Dakolo, frontally accusing the pastor of sleeping with church members. His Instagram post encouraged victims of Fatoyinbo to speak up.
No one came up. And to the pastor and members of the church, Timi was simply ignored.
As it turned out, Timi was playing the role of ‘John the Baptist’ as the wife has come out to make public her sexual abuse by Fatoyinbo, when she was a teenager.
Busola Dakolo made the allegation in an interview with Chude Jideonwo, a Nigerian lawyer, journalist and media entrepreneur, published on Friday by YNaija channel.
According to her, she was a 16-year-old in the Divine Delight Club at Ilorin, Kwara State; the precursor to Fatoyinbo’s Commonwealth of Zion Assembly when she said was groomed and raped by the pastor.
Dakolo explained that as a member of the church, she was raped at two different times in a week by the pastor, adding that she lost her virginity to him before she turned 18.
She alleged that the pastor raped her for the first time at her parent’s home and at another time in a secluded road path.
“Fatoyinbo showed up at our house unannounced early on a Monday morning and I was still in my nightgown, as my mother had traveled with my sisters and were absent at service the previous Sunday.
“Immediately I opened the door, he just pushed me. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t utter any word, he just pushed me to one of the chairs in my living room.”
“I saw him, he was removing his belt, he just said: ‘keep quiet, do what I want you to do and you will be fine.”
“He didn’t say anything after, left to his car, returned with a bottle of Krest and forced me to drink it, probably as some crude contraceptive.”
She also said he told her, “You should be happy that a man of God did this to you.”
“I have kept quiet over the years. I had to come out to say this because another narrative was being said.”she added.
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.
