Babalola Itunu, the Nigerian lady who was wrongfully charged and incarcerated for a crime she didn’t commit in Cote D’Ivoire has reportedly died after contracting an infection.
Earlier this year, The Street Journal reported that 21-year-old Itunu Babalola, from Oyo state, was rotting in a notorious Ivorian prison for refusing to accept police settlement of N100,000 for the crime of burglary committed in her house.
In a statement issued by Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) at the time, it was noted that a former prosecutor in Cote D’Ivoire in collaboration with the police twisted the case against Babalola and accused her wrongly of human trafficking, leading to her conviction for 10 years, out of which she has unjustly served two years.
“Following painstaking investigations by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission and the Nigeria Mission in Abidjan, Cote 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.”
NIDCOM also said that plans are underway to engage the services of a legal Luminary to prove the innocence of Itunu Babalola at the Court of Appeal.
“Plans are underway to engage the services of a legal luminary to prove the innocence of Itunu Babalola at the Court of Appeal after the accused had spent two years out of a ten-year jail term for an offense she did not commit,” the commission had promised in a statement
According to Punch, however, months after this, Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin who first raised an alarm of Itunu’s condition, revealed that she is now dead after contracting an infection.
I have just received a message from Cote d’Ivoire about Itunu Babalola. She is still in prison in Abidjan where she has contracted a serious infection and apparently she is dying.
”All those promises by NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri, OYSG, etc were audio. She’s finally dying,” Hundeyin wrote.
“Itunu is dead. She died this night. Just confirmed,” he later tweeted.
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