Prosecuting Simi Without A Survivor Being Present Will Be Difficult- Lagos State Agency

The Executive Secretary of Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, has weighed in on the old tweets by Simi that bordered on sexual abuse.

Vivour-Adeniyi, in an interview on TV, said, “It is going to be very difficult to prosecute singer Simi over her resurfaced tweets.”

Simi has been in the news for some days now after Nigerians dug up some of her old tweets, which have been deemed troubling. In one of the tweets, Simi, who was at the time a 23-year-old woman working at her mother’s daycare, stated that a 4-year-old was approaching her and wondered whether she should give him a chance.

Following the backlash after the tweets resurfaced, Simi released a statement explaining that the tweets were made about 14 years ago, when she was 23, while helping out at her mother’s daycare and trying to build her music career.

According to her, she used to tweet freely about her daily life at the time, including funny or cute moments involving children, stressing that none of the posts came from any inappropriate intent. She said she cannot allow anyone to twist her story to fit what she described as false narratives, adding that she has always spoken strongly against rape and sex.

On Tuesday, February 24, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons says it has launched an investigation into alleged cases of sexual assault in daycare centres in Nigeria. The agency made the announcement hours after an X user alleged that he attended the daycare centre run by Simi’s mum, said the singer did things to him and other children.

In a chat with Channels TV this morning, Lola Vivour-Adeniyi stated that it will be difficult to prosecute Simi for any wrongdoing if any survivor fails to come forward.

In her words, ’We cannot act like we have not seen this case, and so we have a duty to at least commence preliminary investigation. Is there any survivor because the truth of the matter is that it is going to be very difficult to prosecute the lady without a survivor being present…a victim of whatever it is…is it sexual abuse, is it rape? Is it sexual assault by provocation? And what have you? We encourage anybody who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Simi to please come forward”