Over 15,000 people have signed a petition to strip musician Oladapo Oyebanjo popularly known as Dbanj of his United Nations appointment, due to the rape allegation levelled against him.
It would be recalled that earlier this month, Seyitan Babatayo’s friend, Benjamin Ese, took to Twitter to narrate how Dbanj allegedly raped Seyitan at a hotel in December 2018.
The musician, however, denied the allegations leveled against him and asked his accuser to make a public apology and also pay him the sum of N100m in damages.
Earlier this week, some policemen allegedly acting on the instruction of Dbanj detained Seyitan for over 24 hours and intimidated her to delete her rape allegation tweets and make new ones promoting the artiste.
An online petition via Change.org has now been set up by one E.Popoola, calling on the United Nations to strip him of his appointment as United Nations Ambassador for Peace.
The online petition, as at 5:00pm on Friday, had been signed by 15,365 people.
The petition reads;
We call on the United Nations, and United Nations Women Africa organizations to remove Nigerian artiste Mr Dapo Oyebanjo as a youth ambassador and distance themselves from his actions following the sponsored kidnap of Seyitan who accused D’Banj of rape and sexual assault which happened in 2018.
Women in Nigeria are increasingly at risk of sexual violence and the United Nations and United Nations Women Africa as an entity committed to the empowerment of women should not be seen to associate themselves with alleged rapists, abusers, and kidnappers.
We ask the United Nations and United Nations Women Africa to support and lend their influence in helping Seyitan get justice for the abuse she endured in 2018 and the harassment and bullying in the past weeks.
Some human rights activists and persons interested in the ongoing issue have also called the attention of brands such as Heritage Bank Africa, One Africa, CSA Global, and other establishments associated with Dbanj to end their business deals with him and stand in support of victims of sexual violence.
