Lagos Agency Refers Singer Simi’s Alleged Old Tweets to Police for Probe

The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) has formally referred the controversy surrounding resurfaced tweets linked to singer Simi to the Commissioner of Police for preliminary investigation.

Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, the agency’s Executive Secretary, confirmed this development on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television, stating that the allegations could not be ignored.

The controversy began after Simi made online statements calling for an end to rape and suggesting the castration of rapists. She also claimed that “almost every woman she knows has been sexually assaulted,” sparking widespread discussion.

Shortly after, screenshots of old tweets dating back to 2012 and 2013 began circulating online. Some posts referenced children at her mother’s daycare, with comments such as “love to kiss d kids at my mum’s daycare” and “Why this 4yr old boy tryna put hand inside ma shet?????”.

The resurfaced posts drew sharp criticism from social media users, who described them as inappropriate.

In response, Simi addressed the matter on her platforms, explaining that the tweets reflected her youth and experiences helping at her mother’s daycare. She maintained the posts were not written “from perversion” and accused critics of taking them out of context.

Speaking on the development, Vivour-Adeniyi said the agency had been monitoring the situation.

“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,” she said.

“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 added that the case had been escalated for further scrutiny, particularly given references to a daycare centre.

“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,” Vivour-Adeniyi stated.

She noted that the state’s safeguarding taskforce had also been briefed and that preliminary inquiries were ongoing.

Vivour-Adeniyi stressed that while the agency has a duty to investigate, prosecution would require a survivor to come forward.

“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 without a survivor being present,” she explained.

She urged anyone with relevant information or experience to come forward and give their statement to aid the investigation.