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| Abass Akande Obesere |
What actually happened between you and the lady who alleged that you raped her?
I believe that there is nothing that happens without God’s knowledge. There is also a lesson to learn from everything that one goes through. If not for what happened, I may never have met you guys. However, my visit here will help me achieve a lot. My publicist, Soji Omotayo, informed me that someone called him from P.M.NEWS to ask for my side of the story. I spoke with the person on the other side of the phone, Mr. David (Odey) at first and then, Mr. Babalola (Lanre). I told him that I was not aware of the allegation but asked him to give me about two weeks only for someone to inform me that there was a letter from Okota/Isolo Police Station. I had no idea about what was happening then, so I called my lawyer and asked him to represent me at the Police Station where I was asked to report.
When he got to the station, he came back and told me that the allegation there was quite bad, especially about a lady who said that she came to my house and that I tried to or that I raped her. He asked me to take drastic steps to forestall any further allegation. So he advised that we should transfer the matter to SCID, Panti, Yaba. When I returned from the tour, I spoke with the DPO Okota Police Station on Sunday and I asked if I could see him since I had just arrived from the tour. He told me that he was not around and asked me to visit on Tuesday instead. When I got to the station, I met the lady (Olanike) and she explained that when she left my place, she was bleeding and was telling me some challenges that she had with her health. She had called me earlier in the day to inform me about something that happened to her but I asked her to meet the woman (Mrs. Bola Okoro), through whom we met, to take her to the hospital for treatment. But she refused, for reasons best known to her. Then, I asked her to visit the nearest hospital and ensure that she gets adequate treatment. Afterwards, I called Bola to tell her about Olanike’s problem but she said that nothing was wrong with her because they all slept in the house the previous night. But I did not know that she was the one who had reported me at the station. When I did not hear from Olanike and Bola, I called Bola to ask what was happening and she assured me repeatedly that nothing was wrong with Nike. Bola asked me not to bother coming down to her place and not to call her in respect of Nike again. I asked her why I should not call her again when someone told me that she was bleeding. Then she retorted in Yoruba, “Mugu ni yin ni?” meaning (are you a fool?) “When did you become like this? The lady had told me that she wanted to collect about N5 million or N10 million from you. There is nothing wrong with her, she is absolutely fine.”
Did she ask you for any amount of money before you asked her to go to the hospital to take care of herself?
No, she did not. Because I was in Lagos and she was in Ibadan and if there was anything she needed from me, I would have instructed the woman to do it on my behalf. We were only discussing her health condition. The woman insisted that nothing was wrong with the lady. She confirmed to me that Nike only wanted to connive with her to make money from me. And as someone who is quite familiar with the lady, having taken care of her five-year old child for a long time, I believed that she was not a stranger to Nike and her antics.
What was the relationship between you and Nike?
Bola introduced the lady to me as someone who might need my assistance from time to time just the same way I have been assisting her. When we spoke over the phone, she spoke well and we exchanged phone numbers and we have been communicating ever since. She was always asking to see me but my busy schedule would not permit that. Eventually, we agreed to meet at my place and when she came, we discussed about ‘Obesere Rice’ that I have been expecting. I promised to make her one of the marketers of the product which I had been expecting. I also introduced her to some other marketers of rice.
Was it just business that you discussed or you added pleasure to it along the line?
I must be frank, while we discussed business, we became good friends and that was just it. I can also establish that there was a romantic relationship between us. On the day she alleged that I raped her, she asked to sleep over at my place and I obliged. I did not rape her as she alleged, I would never have done that.
But we gathered that the lady informed the Police that she deals in office equipment contrary to what you have just told us…
The lady said that she wanted to change her line of trade to rice marketing; the real reason Bola needed me to assist her.
She also claimed that you insisted that she passed the night when she wanted to leave for her house…
You know that it is possible for one to ask one’s visitor to sleep over when it is getting quite late. But in this case, I never offered her that.
Damilola Ajulo (Obesere’s Brother):
I was with him (Obesere) the day Nike claimed the incident happened and I had been notified that the lady would be coming basically for business and possibly romance. We were expecting the person who had the ‘Obesere Rice’ in his custody to arrive. Abass had even informed the gate man that he was expecting a lady and that whenever she arrived, she should be allowed in. When she came in, she was very generous. She made tea and we took it with the bread that we bought. I even joked with her about her beauty and we all went to sleep afterwards. The next day, she went to the market, bought some items and prepared food for us. She was all over Abass, calling him her husband and I had to ask him if he had known the lady prior to the time he introduced her to us. It was her first visit and she spent two full days with us. The next day, we had an early appointment on the Island and she left before we returned. Then, she began her allegations. The first thing she said was that since she left the house we did not call her. And Abass apologised immediately and then she sent a text message indicating that she had been bleeding after leaving the house. Meanwhile, she had earlier complained of how she had been living. She confessed to have inserted bottle inside her private part and Abass advised her against such a dangerous practice. The next thing we heard was that she had gone to report at the Police Station that she was raped and a letter was sent for Abass to come over.
She alleged that at about 12.a.m., you barged into the room you gave her in your house and raped her several times
Obesere: We slept together in the same room and it was a mutual consent. We never had any grudges prior to that night and none ensued while we were there.
She also alleged that you put your ring into her private part
There is no other ring with me apart from my wedding ring. All she is trying to do is blackmail me. What I need is your assistance. How will somebody build a house for thirty years and another person will just try to destroy it in one day?
What would you blame this act on since you claimed that there was no prior animosity apart from the fact that you did not call after she came around? Why do you think she invented such a story against you?
Publicist’s response: She only wanted his money according to her confession to the woman who linked Abass to her. But the woman would not be a party to it.
Abass: The lady wrote in her statement that she wanted money from me.
Publicist: The lady apologised to Abass and they left Panti hand-in-hand so I don’t know what else she wants.
What is the situation of things now at Panti?
Obesere: They said that she must have an evidence buttress her allegations; there was no proof that somebody tried to force her and there wasn’t even any scratch on her body to suggest that there was a tussle with someone. The officer who interrogated us blamed the IPO who monitored the case from Isolo for not investigating properly before. They asked us to go and promised to call on us whenever we were needed again for further questioning. But they made her realise that most of her allegations were spurious.
Brother: Abass’ doctor confirmed that nothing was wrong with her but the report from the general hospital suggested otherwise.
CULLED FROM PM NEWS
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