The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency has forwarded the controversy surrounding old social media posts allegedly linked to singer Simi to the Commissioner of Police for preliminary investigation.
The agency’s Executive Secretary, Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, made this known on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television. She explained that the agency could not overlook the claims that have sparked public debate.
The issue began after Simi shared comments online condemning rape. She urged men to stop raping women, proposed castration as punishment for rapists, and stated that “almost every woman she knows has been sexually assaulted.” Her remarks quickly gained traction across social media platforms.
Soon after, screenshots of older tweets reportedly dating back to 2012 and 2013 resurfaced online. Some of the posts appeared to reference children at her mother’s daycare facility. Among the circulating messages were comments such as “love to kiss d kids at my mum’s daycare – they’re super adorable and I’m crazy abt ’em” and “Why this 4yr old boy tryna put hand inside ma shet????? Ogbeni wash it oh!”, among others.
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The resurfaced posts triggered backlash from certain social media users, who described them as inappropriate and directed criticism at the singer.
Addressing the matter on her social media page, Simi clarified that the tweets were written during her younger years while assisting at her mother’s daycare. She insisted the comments were not made “from perversion” and argued that they had been misinterpreted and taken out of context.
Speaking on the development, Vivour-Adeniyi noted that the agency had been monitoring what some online commentators have labeled “Simi Gates and Simi Darlington,” referring to tweets said to have been posted between 2012 and 2014.
“In terms of Simi, I think they are calling it Simi Gates and Simi Darlington. Some people have been asking what are institutions doing? I can speak for what Lagos State DSV is doing.
“We’ve been observing and because we had seen some tweets as far back as 2012, some 2014, and then there were talks around certain tweets being doctored and all of that,” she said.
She disclosed that the agency subsequently escalated the issue for further examination.
“But what we’ve done is to actually refer the case to the Commissioner of Police to at least conduct some preliminary investigation. As you’ve said, there are also reports that this may have happened in a creche managed by her mom. And so issues of safeguarding and child protection concerns have been raised,” she stated.
Vivour-Adeniyi added that the state safeguarding taskforce had also been informed.
“In Lagos State, we have the taskforce saddled with the responsibility of implementing the safeguarding and child protection order and that the taskforce has been briefed on this and preliminary investigations are ongoing,” Vivour-Adeniyi said.
She emphasised that while the agency had a responsibility to initiate preliminary inquiries, any prosecution would depend on the presence of a complainant.
She also called on anyone who might have been affected to come forward and make a statement.
“For the Simi case, we cannot act like we have not seen this. And so we have a duty to at least commence preliminary investigation. Is there any survivor? Because the truth of the matter, it’s 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 defilement, is it sexual assault by penetration and what have you — so it’s to start the process, encourage anybody who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Simi to please come forward and ensure that their statement is taken and then we know where we’re going to on the matter,” she added.
