Nollywood actress and Special Assistant to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Social Events and Public Hearings, Eniola Badmus, has vowed to pursue legal action against an X user who accused her of running a prostitution network linking young women to top film executives and Nigerian politicians.

The fresh allegation, posted on Thursday by a X.com user identified as #Femzydr1, claimed that the popular Yoruba actress had been operating as a private pimp within the Nigerian movie industry, using her connections to funnel young girls to directors, movie executives, and powerful politicians, and that her political appointment was a reward for such services.

He wrote, “Popular Yoruba Actress Eniola Badmus is reportedly a private pimp in Nigeria and in the movie industry, linking young girls up with top directors, movie executives, and Nigerian politicians. She surely gained entry into the political scene through this network, and many young girls have been exploited & used for different purposes by politicians through her connections.

Reacting swiftly on her verified X account, Badmus dismissed the claims as entirely false and issued a stern warning to the accuser, making clear she had no intention of letting the matter slide.

“This is the attention you’ve been craving for, so let’s get into it. This is a false accusation and the authorities will step in. Let it be known that we do not forgive in this zone,” the actress wrote.

PUNCHONLINE reports that in 2023 a similar incident happened where a TikTok user, Nwakaego Okoye, had made a viral video labelling Badmus a “professional pimp” who allegedly connected young women, particularly those who had undergone cosmetic surgery to top politicians across Nigeria which led to her arrest and was subsequently charged before Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The accused was sentenced to three years imprisonment, though the judge gave her the option of a N150,000 fine in lieu of jail time.

In the current case, the accuser, @Femzydr1, has subsequently issued a public apology.

“I sincerely apologize to Ms. Eniola Badmus, her family, friends, fans, and everyone affected by my recent tweet. The post accusing her of exploitation, linking young girls to movie and political figures, and pimping was wrong, irresponsible, and made without evidence. I deeply regret spreading such damaging and false information,” the user wrote.

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

The Executive Secretary of the agency, Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, disclosed this on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television, saying the agency could not ignore the allegations.

The controversy erupted after Simi made comments on social media about rape, saying that men should stop raping women, suggesting rapists should be castrated and claiming that “almost every woman she knows has been sexually assaulted.”

Those statements became widely discussed online.

Shortly after, screenshots of a series of old tweets believed to be from 2012 and 2013 began circulating.

Among them were posts appearing to reference children at her mother’s daycare, including 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.

The resurfacing of the old tweets drew intense criticism from some social media users, who interpreted them as inappropriate, and generated what many described as heat against the singer.

In response, Simi addressed the matter on her social media page, explaining that the old tweets were reflections of her then youth and experiences helping at her mother’s daycare.

She maintained that the posts were not written “from perversion” and said critics had taken them out of context.

Reacting to the situation, Vivour-Adeniyi said the agency had been observing developments around what some have dubbed “Simi Gates and Simi Darlington”, following the circulation of tweets said to date back to 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 added that the agency decided to escalate the matter for further scrutiny.

“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.

According to her, the state’s safeguarding taskforce has also been briefed.

“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 stressed that the agency had a duty to commence preliminary inquiries, noting that prosecution would depend on the availability of a complainant.

She also urged anyone affected to come forward to give their 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.