The father of the late Itunu Babalola, the Nigerian lady who died in Côte d’Ivoire after she was wrongly jailed, has rejected the autopsy on the cause of her death and is demanding for justice.
Mr Emmanuel Babalola made his position known during a visit to Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) on Tuesday, December 28, in Lagos.
It would be recalled that 24-year-old Itunu from Oyo State reportedly died on November 14, after two years in Ivorian prison.
Itunu reportedly got entangled in a legal battle when she reported to the police that her house in Bondoukou, Cote d’Ivoire had been burgled.
She was said to have been charged to court and the prosecutor, in collaboration with the police, allegedly compromised the case and accused her of human trafficking.
Itunu was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison which was later reduced to 10 years, but she died two years into her jail term.
Mr Babalola commended the Federal Government’s efforts to get his late daughter released from the prison before she died as well as getting the corpse released.
“I am not satisfied with the cause of death of my daughter. The autopsy was read but I am not satisfied with it. When the Ivorian government took Itunu to hospital, she was bleeding, blood coming out of her mouth and nose, and I did not know what really happened until I heard suddenly that my daughter is dead,” he said.
“This has put me in sadness since then. I want the case to continue. I reject the autopsy. I want to know the cause of her death. I want the Nigerian government to please help me and investigate further what led to her death,” the father who wept profusely said.
Babalola said that doctors informed him that what the Ivorian government claimed killed his daughter could not have killed her within 24 hours.
He called on the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama and the National Assembly to intervene in the case.
