by Oge Okonkwo

Fuji musician, Abass Akande  known to everyone as Obesere who was arrested after he was accused of raping a 29-year-old woman has said that the allegation was a set-up calculated to smear him and destroy his career.

Obesere made this statement on WAZOBIA, a breakfast programme on a Lagos-based television station, MITV.

Speaking in Yoruba, the Fuji musician said his accuser, Olanike Olaiya cooked up the allegation as a blackmail scheme to extort between five and ten million Naira from him.

Premium Times reports:

He however admitted knowing the woman, saying she was introduced to him by another female acquaintance, Bola Olowo. He said the woman visited him at home requesting to be appointed a marketer for  ”Obesere” rice.

Obesere also admitted having sex with the woman but denied raping her. He said he was never arrested by the police.

The musician said, “She visited me at home at night and it was too late for her to return to her place. I won’t lie about the fact that we had intimate encounter. But I did not rape her. And it was about four or five days after she visited me that she went to the police to allege that I raped her.

“I went to the police station but when when I realized that the officers there were favouring her as a complainant, I requested them to transfer the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba.

“There, they asked her for evidence that she was raped. There was no injury on her. Her clothes were intact. When she couldn’t produce evidence, the police advised her not to attempt to blackmail me. They advised her to gently approach me and ask for help if she wanted anything.

“When she first called me to say she was feeling sick, I called the woman who introduced her to me to take her to hospital. But Alhaja said nothing was wrong with her, that she was only trying to extort me. Alhaja said she planned to blackmail me into parting with between five and ten million naira.

“I can tell you my enemies are behind the allegation. They are trying to bring me down. But they won’t succeed because I’m a child of God, a messenger of God. Once God remains behind me, nobody can bring me down.

“I’m a responsible man, a reliable man. But I’m human and therefore fallible. But I’m not losing sleep about this allegation. I’m undeterred and I’m going about my business because I have no doubt that the truth will prevail.”

There had been report on Wednesday that Obesere allegedly raped Ms Olaiya in his Okota residence in Lagos and was thereafter arrested by the police.

Read our earlier report, published on Wednesday, below.

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The police in Lagos have arrested a popular Fuji musician,  Abass Akande, popularly known as Obesere, for allegedly raping a 29-year-old businesswoman, Olanike Olaiya, the Vanguard newspaper  is reporting this morning.

Ms. Olanike said the musician raped her in his Okota residence, Lagos.

But Obesere, according to the report, is insisting that Ms. Olanike was his lover and that they had sex as consenting adults.

According to the report, Ms. Olaiya, a  National Diploma graduate of business administration from Ibadan Polytechnic, told the police that she knew Obesere through one of her friends, a certain Bola Okoro.

She said Ms. Okoro told her Obesere would assist in her  business.

Vanguard quoted her as follows: “I deal in office equipment and when I contacted Obesere, he asked me to meet him in his family house at Okota.

“When I  met him, I  introduced my business to him and he promised to connect me to some of his friends in Dubai who would sell  goods to me on credit.

“After the discussion, he started demanding for sex and I refused and when I wanted to leave, he insisted I should sleep over in his house because it was late and he claimed that it was dangerous to go out late in the night in his area.

“I thought he was a responsible man and I decided to sleep over, but at the dead of the night, he came into the room where I slept and pounced on me.

“He raped me and afterwards inserted a ring he wore into my  private part  and I started bleeding. He hurriedly  left me in the room saying he had an appointment to fulfil.

“I could not bear the trauma and the bleeding and I reported the matter  to the police.”

The report indicated Obesere was first arrested last Wednesday by operatives from the Isolo Police Division where Ms. Olaiya reported the matter.

He was subsequently released on administrative bail but later re-arrested on Monday, when medical examination conducted on Ms. Olaiya revealed that she was actually raped, the report says.

It added that the Divisional Police Officer, Isolo,  Adamu Ibrahim, has now ordered the transfer of the matter to State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, for further investigation.

Vanguard quoted unnamed sources as telling it that Obesere was arrested after the police obtained a warrant of arrest from Isolo Magistrate Court following the musician’s reluctance to honour several police invitations sent to his  house at Johnson Famiye Street, Canal Estate, Ago, Okota.

Obesere however denied ever raping Ms. Olaiya, the report quoted the musician as telling investigators. He insisted the woman was his lover and that they made love when she visited him.

The musician, the report added, claimed he asked her to go to a private hospital for treatment when she complained of bleeding, and that he was surprised that she instead went to the police to report that she was raped.