The battle between Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo and Busola Dakolo, who accused him of rape, has now become a real legal war.
This is months after the allegation had been argued only and offline by concerned individuals and groups.
In the High Court, Abuja, on Monday, counsel of both parties sought to outsmart each other before the judge.
While Fatoyinbo argued that the case had been overtaken by time, Busola insisted that this was not so because the injury she allegedly suffered lingered, saying she still suffered emotional injury.
“That contrary to paragraph 9(a, g and h) of the applicant’s affidavit, the wrongs, injuries and damage done to her by the applicant (Fatoyinbo) are continuing and that she continues to experience fresh emotional injury from time to time due to the acts of the defendant/applicant,” the counter-affidavit she filed in response to Fatoyinbo’s objection read in part.
‘The Punch’ also reports that in his preliminary objection which he filed against the suit on September 20, 2019, Fatoyinbo had told the court that the prayers contained in the case were ungrantable.
Describing the suit as being statute barred, having not been filed within three years of the occurrence of the event complained about, Fatoyinbo urged the court to dismiss the suit without the need to hear its substance.
His team of lawyers, led by Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), maintained that the suit could not be pursued while her allegation of rape against the cleric and his claim that the pastor caused her emotional distress remained a subject of police investigation.
He also accused the plaintiff of an attempt to scandalise and embarrass him by going to the press about the suit before even serving it on him.
But in her reply to the objection, Busola, through her counsel, Pelumi Olajengbesi, argued that contrary to Fatoyinbo’s claim, her suit had not become statute barred as the injury he suffered in the hands of the pastor continued.
Her counter-affidavit added, “That the injury suffered by the respondent is continuing.
“That the suit is not statute-barred. That the suit falls within the exception to the statute of limitation law.”
She also said she did not file a criminal case against the pastor but a civil case which could go on simultaneously with a police investigation.
