A 21-year-old Nigerian lady, Itunu Babalola, has died after contracting deadly infection in an Ivorian prison.
According to reports, Babalola from Oyo State was a trader based in Bondoukou, Côte d’Ivoire. She was wrongfully jailed after her apartment was bugged by a relative of an Ivorian police officer.
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Her apartment had been burgled in September 2019 and she had reported the incident to the police but DPO informed her that the suspect was his nephew.
The Police officer had reportedly offered her N100,000 as settlement to drop the case, an amount lesser than the N300,000 worth of stolen effects she claimed.
Babalola was subsequently arrested after she refused the settlement, charged to court for human trafficking and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
A journalist, David Hundeyin, had shared the story of Babalola on Twitter in March 2021 and the Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) had said it was working to prove the innocence of Babalola.
NIDCOM, headed by Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had confirmed that the lady was charged and incarcerated for a crime she knew nothing about.
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“Following painstaking investigations by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission and the Nigeria Mission in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, it is now confirmed that Itunu Babalola, a Nigerian living in Abidjan was wrongfully charged and incarcerated for a crime she did not commit.”
