The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has responded to calls from netizens to investigate singer-songwriter and actress Simisola “Simi” Kosoko over allegations of child sexual abuse at her mother’s daycare centre.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that social media users accused the “Duduke” crooner of pedophilia after old posts from her X account resurfaced, allegedly suggesting she had sexualised toddlers in her mother’s daycare.
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The 37-year-old came under scrutiny after speaking out about growing concerns over sexual assault in Nigeria, following TikToker Mirabel’s allegation of being raped in her apartment.
When Mirabel later admitted the claim was false, netizens unearthed several of Simi’s posts dating back to 2012. In one, she reportedly referenced a four-year-old child having a crush on her and “acting like he wants loc lip”. In another, she allegedly said the same child was “trying to put hand inside my shet (sic)”.
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Responding to the backlash, Simi stated that she made the posts at the age of 23 while assisting at her mother’s daycare centre.
Her admission prompted renewed calls from netizens for relevant authorities to investigate the matter and take decisive action.
NAPTIP
In response to the concerns raised, NAPTIP stated on its Instagram page on Tuesday that it is committed to conducting a thorough investigation of all credible reports.
The agency urged anyone with factual information, evidence, direct knowledge, or who has been affected by the issues to come forward.
The agency’s statement read: “Following recent public discussions and concerns raised regarding alleged incidents of child sexual abuse/misconduct in daycare settings in Nigeria, we are committed to thoroughly investigating credible reports.
“We kindly request anyone with factual information, evidence, direct knowledge, or who was personally affected by the matters referenced in the viral posts or related experiences to kindly reach out to us confidentially. Via DM or email.
We take all reports of child sexual abuse/misconduct seriously and are committed to investigating every credible claim.”
Backstory
This newspaper reported that the “Joromi” singer said her tweets were misinterpreted and manipulated to fit misleading narratives, emphasising that she had never acted immorally.
She noted that her public profile now subjected her past statements to intense scrutiny, adding that she had never attempted to hide her identity or deny that she had once been a young woman freely expressing herself.
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The singer further revealed that her team had started removing some older posts out of consideration for her family, despite her initial reluctance to delete them.
“I was not famous, so maybe if I were, I would have understood that anything is open to whatever interpretation, including being used falsely by a faceless mob. I’ve never been depraved in my life.
“You can retweet all the tweets in the world about me loudly crushing on people I admire/d and or being a cheeky young woman. I wasn’t trying to hide it, because I don’t have anything to hide,” she said.
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