Itunu Babalola, The Nigerian lady who was wrongfully convicted and died in prison in Côte D’Ivoire on November 14, 2021, was buried at about 11: 25am today at Sango Cemetery, Ibadan, capital of Oyo State.
In attendance at the burial ground were the family members of the deceased, some staff of University of Ibadan, (UI), where her father Abayomi Williams Babalola works as a camera staff of the Nigerian in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), the commission that responsible for bringing the deceased home and bore the funeral expenses.
The Itunu’s body arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos yesterday around 11pm via Air Côte D’Ivoire and was conveyed to Oyo State.
According to reports, 21-year-old Babalola from Oyo State was a trader based in Bondoukou, Cote d’Ivoire. Her apartment had been burgled by an Ivorian in September 2019 and she had reported the incident to the police but the DPO informed her that the suspect was his nephew. He reportedly offered her a settlement worth roughly N100,000 to drop the case, an amount lesser than the N300,000 worth of stolen effects.
Babalola was subsequently arrested when she refused the settlement, charged to court for human trafficking and sentenced to 20 years, which was later reduced to 10 years in prison.
