When Bolanle Aseyan’s plane touched down at the Muritala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1 (MMA1) on July 13, 2020, she was relieved to be home.
Her post accusing Olufunmilayo Ogunsanya of rape had ignited a fire that was burning fiercely, as more women sent her messages claiming he did the same thing to them.
She had never met these women, and before she even put a name to the accuser, they had guessed he was the one. She explained to FIJ that her post was first meant to be a cry for help and a means of evacuation rather than an accusation.
But when she began to receive private messages from these women, including one who was pregnant at the time, on the same issue, she realised hers wasn’t an isolated case.
“I went on Twitter and typed: The doctor in the UK has sexually abused me. It was a cry for help, my way of pushing for evacuation. I didn’t want to stay, didn’t want to endure anymore. I wanted to leave,” she told FIJ.
“Then, before I even mentioned his name, several women started sliding into my DMs. Not a single one of them guessed another doctor’s name. They all said the same thing: It’s Dr. Olufunmilayo, right? I said yes. They shared their stories, one even pregnant when he assaulted her.”
The officer investigating her case in the UK told her that time had passed on the case, and she needed the women’s testimonies to have a strong case before the General Medical Council (GMC), as they are likely to act on a series of complaints about their member who has to attend to women.
“I thought I was the only one,” Aseyan said, “but then I saw how many of us there were. I resolved to see it through.”
GBEMISOLA: ‘OGUNSANYA RAPED ME WHEN I WAS 3 MONTHS PREGNANT’
One of the women who reached out to Aseyan was Gbemisola, another Nigerian based in the UK. Gbemisola had accused Ogunsanya of sexually assaulting her while she was three months pregnant with her son in 2017.
He had invited her to his house and offered her a room to help her fight off depression at the time but soon had his way with her.
In the email she wrote to GMC. She said, “Funmi came up on me later that night, I tried to fight him off but later gave in as I was at risk and so was my pregnancy.”
FIJ also found posts Gbemisola made on the platform dating far back as June 2020, accusing Ogunsanya of being a liar and manipulator.
In one of the posts, she wrote, “I warned you not to make this foolish thread, but instead of apologising and correcting it, you chose to act smart and try to manipulate the whole of Twitter.”
As the story spread, Ogunsanya and his supporters fought back online. Influencers, some of whom had never met her, pushed narratives that claimed she was a liar, an opportunist, or a broke woman trying to trap him. He even issued a pre-action notice, which was circulated as though it was a court judgment, with headlines claiming she owed him millions in damages.
Still, Aseyan pressed forward. She reported everything formally to the police, provided written and video statements, and later referred the matter to the GMC. Ogunsanya denied the accusations, claiming they had been dating and that their sex had been consensual. But Aseyan insisted she had never consented, and that he was only trying to protect his reputation.
“It was never about lies,” she said. “It was about what he did to me, and how many others like me had been silenced.”
ARRESTED AND BEATEN UP BY BAR BEACH POLICEMEN
The back-and-forth with the council and Ogunsanya was still ongoing when officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from Bar Beach Police Station, Victoria Island (VI), Lagos, suddenly invaded Aseyan’s house in Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, on August 11, 2020.
Aseyan had just assumed her house job at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ebutte-metta. The officers entered her house and beat her up before taking her away. They said a case of defamation, threats to life and harm had been filed against her, and she had to follow them to their station.
She complied but went with her brother and a lawyer, who specialised in property law. She kept wondering why the police might have invited her until she got there and found that Ogunsanya had initiated the invitation.
His connections to the arrest were even confirmed by the presence of one Daniel Edward whom she had dated before meeting Ogunsanya.
She explained to FIJ that when she first shared her story on Twitter, it wasn’t only people from Ogunsanya’s camp who worked hard to discredit her story. Edward was one of them.
She said their relationship fell apart mainly due to how he exaggerated his financial status and lied using fake screenshots showing huge account balances. All these were why she primarily lost interest in him.
Before she travelled to the UK, she used his debit card to pay for the Fashion Nova order she was waiting to receive before the pandemic trapped her in the UK. She said after sending him the Naira equivalent, the money was short by N2,000 due to conversion issues.
It was a simple matter, but Edward rode on the incident to say she had committed identity fraud and had a longstanding case with the police when her story broke, despite being in possession of all the expensive gifts she bought him while they were dating.
She told FIJ that Ogunsanya likely reached out to him after seeing his accusatory posts, and together, they decided to use Edward’s bitterness against her as evidence.
But the complaint Daniel filed with the police had nothing concrete, only insults and unfounded claims.
From Bar Beach Police Station, her case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, even though she was allowed to go home the same day after her brother paid her bail fee.
However, she was forced to sign an undertaking not to mention all that had transpired to anyone or on social media. It was only after this that her brother was allowed to apply for her bail.
Before her release, she met Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maria, a female officer, at SCID, whom she was ordered to constantly report to as one of the conditions for her release.
After this, she hired a lawyer who filed a petition on her behalf at Zone 2 Police Station against Panti SCID and Edward.
BEATEN, STRIPPED AND DETAINED AT PANTI
On September 7, 2020, Aseyan was at FMC when she got a call from Panti, summoning her to the station.
“I remember going, wearing a skirt and a top, because I felt at the end of the day, I would be able to go home. I didn’t tell anybody I was going to Panti because I wasn’t scared anymore since I got released the first time around. Big mistake,” she said.
Aseyan realised the risk of not informing anyone as soon as she got there. She explained to FIJ that the moment she stepped in, she met ASP Maria, who ordered her to be beaten and stripped. The officer also compelled her to make a video stating her claims against Ogunsanya were false, but she refused and stood her ground.
ASP Maria also asked her to be locked up instantly and her phones seized. She told FIJ that this was done to cover up their acts of torture against her when they learnt of her petition.
But they also beat her and caused a few baton marks on her back.
She said all these didn’t sound like she was in trouble until she overheard ASP Maria accepting money from someone who had raped a seven-year-old girl with a promise to ensure the matter was buried.
“That was when it dawned on me that I was in soup,” she told FIJ.
“The young girl had been raped by someone who was close to them, and her mother was at the station to make formal complaints. Her mother had gone upstairs to fill a document, and as soon as she left, the man who raped the girl brought out money for ASP Maria. She then told him not to worry, that the matter was going to be resolved.
“I was like, I’m in soup. That’s when I knew how deep in soup I was — because if that could happen to a small girl while I was there, then I was finished.
“They said, at least me, I have bum bum and breasts. How can I carry myself to a man’s house and think I don’t want to sleep with him? Am I foolish? Am I a child? That woman even said her own daughter cannot go to a man’s house and not know what will come out of it. Right there, I knew my case was going to be complicated.”
Aseyan slept in that cell overnight.
The following morning, officers came to the cell and called her name. By then, she was trying to liaise with a male police officer for access to her phone so she could at least tell someone where she was.
At the point of cuffing her hands, she said the officers told her that they were planning to arraign her at the Yaba Magistrate Court. She was confused and asked what her offence was. Neither her family nor her brother’s lawyer knew her whereabouts.
She said the police officers only told her they would make her suffer again if she resisted them. “They said it’s like you want to suffer again. We are going to take you there whether you like it or not.”
This was when she started shouting frantically and accusing them of plotting to kill her secretly. “I was screaming, I am not going anywhere. You want to go and kill me. I am not going with you. Somebody help me.”
It was at this point that a senior police officer who heard the noise came downstairs and requested to know what was going on.
She explained to him that she was a young medical doctor who had just left the hospital after being on call, only to be invited for a “friendly” discussion. Instead, she was detained, beaten, stripped and was about to be transferred to court.
The senior officer listened and asked what she wanted. Aseyan pleaded for the chance to make phone calls, explaining that no one knew of her whereabouts and that if anything happened to her, her family wouldn’t know where to look.
The senior officer then asked for her to be allowed to make her calls, but that she would still be taken to court regardless. It was only then that she was given her phone.
This was around 6 am.
“First, I called my brother and told him I was at Panti SCID, and that they were about to take me to court. He was shocked and said he would join me instantly,” she told FIJ.
THE VOICE OF GOD, OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER
She said what followed next was a profound experience she would always remember, as she heard a voice telling her loud and clear to browse the Office of the Public Defender (OPD).
“Prior to that day, I didn’t know what that meant or even heard about it. I never did. This is the second time that I will say I heard the voice of God loud and clear.
“I think God made it loud and clear so there wouldn’t be any ambiguity.
“I googled that office and saw a phone number that I dialled. On the second or third ring, one Dr Martins on the other end picked up.
“I was panicky and fast, and said, ‘Sir, I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. I’m a young medical doctor. My name is Bolanle Aseyan. They said I falsely accused somebody, but they lied. I didn’t falsely accuse anyone. They are taking me to court. Please, sir, I don’t have a lawyer.’
“He replied, ‘Which court? When you get there, let me know what courtroom you are in. Find a way to send that.’ As soon as that happened, they took me away.”
She said when she got to the court, she found a way to text Dr Martins and her brother to say she was in Courtroom 4. But that was not all.
Aseyan told FIJ that when she arrived at the court, it was clear everything had been planned. The media were there. Edward was there with the prosecutors. All present and fully dressed.
She explained that seeing Edward broke her. At first, she had thought that what happened at the police station might have been a mistake or youthful recklessness, but his presence in court confirmed to her that he knew exactly what he was doing, but she said nothing.
Aseyan stated that one of the charge-and-bail lawyers on the court premises approached her and demanded N50,000 to represent her. She was suspicious, thinking it might be another setup, but when the advice was to plead not guilty, she went along with it.
She told FIJ that as she entered, she whispered prayers under her breath. She was not taken to a proper courtroom but an office inside the court. There, everyone inside was dressed in mufti, not in proper robes.
They read out all the charges against her, which were:
- COUNT I: Conspiracy with others to falsely tag Dr. Olufumilayo Ogunsanya a rapist on social media, injuring his reputation and profession.
- COUNT 2: Publication of a false report on social media that Dr. Ogunsanya is a rapist, knowing it was untrue, causing fear or alarm.
- COUNT 3: Accusing Dr. Ogunsanya of raping her, knowing the claim was false, with intent to extort.
- COUNT 4: Using her Twitter handle to intentionally menace Dr. Ogunsanya’s character by posting a rape allegation, an offence under the Cybercrime Act.
- COUNT 5: Sending repeated rape accusation messages via Twitter to cause annoyance, danger, insult, injury to his profession, and needless anxiety to Dr. Ogunsanya, also under the Cybercrime Act.
Aseyan also said that Edward’s name came up again as the complainant, but he never took the stand to give any testimony against her.
She told FIJ that she pleaded not guilty, but the prosecutor claimed she was a flight risk, accusing her of trying to abscond to Ghana. She was shocked. She had never been to Ghana in her life. When she tried to speak up, saying she had only come from work that day, her lawyer tapped her arm, signalling her to stay quiet.
The magistrate then signed an order remanding her in Kirikiri Prison until the next court hearing.
She told FIJ that as she was coming out, Dr Martins stepped in. He asked around for her, and she immediately told him they were taking her to Kirikiri. She explained that he walked in boldly and confronted them, saying it made no sense to rush her case when she had not even brought her lawyer.
Dr Martins told her to hold on and asked the police officers to wait while he went back into the same office. She did not know what conversation took place inside, but when he returned, he told her he was going to sort it out, and he did.
Dr Martins returned to explain that there was a process for her release form and that it was not instant. He warned her to delay the transfer to Kirikiri because once she got in, it would be difficult to get her out quickly, and she would suffer more. She said she didn’t know how she would manage that, but she trusted God to assist her.
“I just tried to maintain my calm. I told myself, ‘Just relax. God is with you. God is in control,’” she told FIJ.
TO LET HER PEE, POLICEMAN ASKS TO SEE HER BUTTOCKS
Aseyan explained to FIJ that a policeman was instructed to take her back to Panti. On the way, she asked him to let her pee, but he said he would not let her unless she let him see her buttocks. When he reluctantly stopped the van, he followed her as she walked a few steps, demanding to see her bum. She pleaded with him, but he reminded her he wasn’t supposed to be stopping.
She told FIJ that his attitude suddenly changed; he had been sympathetic before, but he now turned quite aggressive. He was armed, and she felt threatened. “I pulled down my skirt immediately and I squatted in front of him and put my clothes back on,” she said.
Aseyan stated that the officer’s excitement was palpable as he ordered her back into the van and drove her back to Panti.
She told FIJ she saw an opportunity while the officer was acting excited “like a little child”. She was hungry so she asked him to buy her food; she had not eaten since she was locked up nearly 24 hours earlier. He resisted at first. But he continued complimenting her appearance, and eventually agreed to buy her food at the canteen in Panti.
According to Aseyan, when they got to Panti, the policeman fulfilled his promise, bought her food, and even handed her phone back to her. By then, social media was already agog with news she had been taken to Kirikiri and labelled a “false accuser”.
She stated that the first call she picked was from her mother, who had tried to reach her several times. She reassured her mother and downplayed the situation, even making a short video call to calm her fears. “I was most worried about her blood pressure,” she told FIJ.
Her friend Gani Kale, whose brother is a lawyer, also reached out. He advised her to remain where she was and delay the process while he went to see what he could do.
She told FIJ that while she was eating, the officer again asked for favours. “This one I’m doing for you is not normal. Nobody does this. Show me your lap, let me even see,” she recalled. She said she lifted her skirt slightly, and he kept complimenting her appearance.
Months later, she received a message from him requesting money. “He said I should please credit him with money, that he assisted me that time. I think I did,” she told FIJ.
She added that someone eventually reported to ASP Maria that her armed escort had been with her in the canteen. That officer was furious because at the time, the narrative had already been publicised that she was in Kirikiri.
“I needed to be in Kirikiri, because if I wasn’t in Kirikiri with all the money — God knows how much — that she was paid, she was in trouble,” Aseyan explained.
She told FIJ she was suddenly summoned again, and she immediately sensed that nothing she tried would work anymore. “I didn’t even bother to argue or try anything anymore. I was just like, ‘Father Lord…’ I kept on praying,” she said.
When she was taken upstairs, ASP Maria was furious. She slapped the officer who had been with her, seized his cap, and ordered his detention. “For him to even be shaking like that, he knew he was in deep trouble.”
‘TWITTER INFLUENCERS LIED THAT I WAS IN PRISON’
Just as she was about to be handed over once more for transfer to Kirikiri, Dr Martins arrived with her release papers. He declared boldly, “I have her release document. She’s not going anywhere.”
At the time, she had already posted on Twitter that she was being taken to Kirikiri, but it was a lie. “I made a video in my car, because I was in my car at the time. I said, ‘I am not in Kirikiri.’ People were like, ‘What’s with these doctors? We don’t even know what’s going on again,’” she told FIJ.
She explained that what followed was the continuation of a proper court case. At the next adjournment, she appeared as the defendant, and the case was eventually dismissed and struck out in her favour.
“I had to appear, but it wasn’t consequential. I’d go, but there was nothing going on. Just argue here and there,” she said.
Meanwhile, the attacks online did not stop. She told FIJ that while she stayed quiet on social media, she kept seeing false organised narratives such as claims that she had been sued in the UK and ordered to pay £10,000 (an equivalent of N20 million today).
Through a now-inactive X account with user ID @DrOlufunmilayo, Ogunsanya had shared that Aseyan would be required to pay him the stated amount as damages.
“For your attention, Bola Aseyan. This letter has been sent to your email since yesterday. As there has been no acknowledgement from you so far, in case it went to spam, I would be posting it here to be sure you definitely see it. Happy weekend. God bless.” Ogunsanya tweeted.
The post also stated that she would be required to issue a written apology and a declaration admitting the allegations are false and defamatory, make a full retraction, delete the defamatory comments from Twitter and other social media, contact third parties who shared the comments to ensure removal, and stop making further defamatory statements.
Aseyan noted that at the time, the GMC had suspended Ogunsanya’s licence on the premise that he was unfit to practise due to the ongoing investigation. She said he was also placed under strict conditions, including not seeing patients without supervision. She added that he also stayed offline from Twitter for about two to three years, only returning recently to celebrations.
MAGISTRATE COURT CLEARS BOLA ASEYAN… BUT MORE TROUBLE AHEAD
Meanwhile, Aseyan’s legal battle at the Yaba Magistrate Court was still on. On the day the case was struck out for lacking merit, she was on the court premises with her lawyer, jubilating, thinking it was all over, when someone alerted her that there were people on the prosecutor’s side waiting to pick her up.
She stated that, unknown to her, another case had been filed at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, and the prosecutors had anticipated the Yaba Magistrate Court ruling and had gone ahead to file cybercrime and cyberbullying charges. She said they never served her or her lawyer a hearing notice, giving the misleading impression she had absconded.
According to Aseyan, the judge then signed a warrant of arrest and ordered that she be taken to Kirikiri.
“See, run. Run as fast as you can, as far as you can, because if they carry you, I don’t know when the next hearing will be. It could take three months, even four,” she quoted the person as saying.
“There’s no argument you can make before a judge now, because the judge has already issued the warrant. It’s on the next hearing day that we’ll argue it. You cannot spend three or four months in Kirikiri, so run.”
Aseyan said that as soon as she stepped outside the court, men in plain clothes started chasing her. They were not in uniform, and she never saw any warrant, so she could not tell if they were policemen or kidnappers.
She recalled running out of the court premises with her friend pushing her from behind, urging her to run. This was around Ebutte-Metta Market, where baskets of tomatoes, peppers and fish fell over as she ran. People were startled, and in the confusion, her friend shouted “Kidnapper! Kidnapper!” to draw attention.
This happened around the #EndSARS protests, which made the scene even more tense. Aseyan did not know if the crowd stopped the men who were pursuing her, but she managed to escape on a bike and was taken to a hotel where she hid.
She described the incident as traumatic, saying it felt like she was moving from one problem to another.
In a 38-second post-escape clip obtained by FIJ, a man who dressed as a lawyer can be seen shielding himself from the camera after a man said: “These are the people they are trying to use the police to arrest a young lady. This is a counsel. This is the one telling the police to arrest a young lady, who is being harassed on the streets.
“You are a counsel. She came to court herself, and you tell the police to arrest this lady without a warrant of arrest. Do you see it? This is the guy in question. We sent a petition against you. She came to court herself. You can’t be harassing her.”
Aseyan said she had to relocate from Lagos and even abandon her house job at the time because she no longer felt safe. Police officers began showing up at her workplace with a warrant, though she initially did not know they were the police. She later discovered the existence of the warrant when she saw a tweet from popular influencer Pamilerin claiming she had “evaded arrest”.
Aseyan moved in with an aunt in Kwara State, where she said the trauma so badly affected her she once hid under a staircase, convinced people were calling her name. She feared she was losing her mind.
“There I met on lady, Bola Olukole, who contacted Olasupo Sasore, the former attorney-general of Lagos State.”
Her case eventually drew the attention of Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, the managing partner at law firm ALP, who listened to her story after contacting her. She then offered to represent her pro bono.
On the next adjourned date, they appeared in court together. Badejo-Okusanya clarified to the judge that Aseyan had not absconded, explaining that she was never served and could not have been in two different courts at the same time. The judge “was very upset and spoke harshly to the prosecutors as a result”.
Over time, the case passed through several judges due to transfers, even moving to Abuja before it was finally dismissed in August 2025. The final judge was able to complete it because he had a Fiat — a judicial order allowing him to conclude pending cases after his transfer. Aseyan said the prolonged trial dragged on for four years, even though on Twitter, where it all started, she was constantly painted as “the face of false accusers”.
WARNING TO ASEYAN: ‘HE WILL COME FOR YOUR LIFE IF YOU MAKE HIM LOSE HIS LICENCE’
During this period, the GMC hearing was ongoing too. Though it had started in 2020, it was only in 2023 that the hearing was finally concluded.
By that time, Aseyan had already met with her ALP lawyers, who told her she needed proper preparation. She explained that before then, she had never undergone a full hearing. Even at Yaba Court, she had barely spoken.
Aseyan admitted she struggled to answer questions at the GMC hearing because three years had already passed. She could no longer recall details with precision, whether it was a glass of wine or a bottle, what the percentage was, or even the specific dates and times.
She said Oyakola advised her not to proceed with the GMC case, warning: “Bola, for your life, I’m advising you. If this man loses his licence, he could kill you. He could come after your family. It’s better to face the court case and win here. If he loses his licence, he can’t practise forever anywhere and he would come after you and your family. If you decide to go ahead with the hearing, you’ll have to do it on your own, by yourself.”
Around the same time, Ogunsanya reached out to Aseyan’s lawyers, expressing his intention to withdraw the cybercrime allegations filed against her at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi. He also asked that she withdraw her own complaints. She explained that her lawyers advised against posting the “without prejudice” email publicly, but she told them to respond firmly: he needed to publicly admit what he had done.
“You can’t publicise an online smear campaign against me and now want us to settle in private,” Aseyan said.
He refused, insisting such an admission would result in the loss of his licence.
She recalled that Badejo’s advice tugged at her about how far he could go, but she pressed on: “If God had carried me this far, He would carry me further.”
The GMC hearing, however, demanded airtight details that she could not provide. Aseyan explained she could not even bring herself to revisit her old statements because every attempt brought her to tears. Instead, she narrated from memory, which created gaps. As a result, the case was struck out, and Ogunsanya’s licence was restored.
“But online, the narrative said GMC had exonerated him. Even though that was not what was written,” Aseyan said.
“On each of the claims, the GMC specifically said ‘not proved’; there was no claim they deemed ‘false’. Not one. The terms used in describing something are important.”
FIJ
