Detectives are presently questioning the founder of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo, over the rape allegations levelled against him by Busola, a photographer and wife of popular singer, Timi Dakolo.
The Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, said this during an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.
Responding to a question, Mba said, “Yes, he is in our custody.”
When asked if the pastor was being detained, the Force spokesman said it was too early to say.
He also said the investigation of Fatoyinbo was proof that the police had not swept the matter under the carpet as was being insinuated in some quarters.
When asked why it took so long for the pastor to be invited, Mba said the police wanted to get statements from several witnesses and then build a solid case before inviting him.
The police spokesman said, “We have done a whole lot of background investigations and spoken to a whole lot of people before now. It was a deliberate investigative procedure to bring him last. Although we may invite others later depending on how investigations go.
“We were not in a hurry to bring him because we wanted to have enough background information that would be used in interrogating him. We have done an extensive investigation.”
Mrs. Dakolo accused him of raping her 20 years ago while she was still a teenager.
The pastor had 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.”
Source: Punch
