Nigerians have condemned the reported incarceration of a
23-year-old woman, Itunu Babalola, by the Ivorian government over alleged
theft.
Babalola, a trader based in Bondoukou, Cote d’Ivoire, was
said to have been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment after a theft case she
reported to the police was allegedly turned against her.
Our correspondent learnt that Babalola had been in prison
since 2019 after she refused to grant the request of a divisional police
officer to drop the case.
A journalist, David Hundeyin, who shared Babalola’s story on Twitter, explained that the victim’s flat was burgled and items worth over N300,000 stolen, adding that she reported the matter to the police and later travelled to Nigeria to see her sick mother.
However, upon Babalola’s return to Ivory Coast, she was
notified that the thief had been caught.
Hundeyin tweeted, “The thief turned out to be a 14-year-old
boy who lived nearby. His embarrassed dad apologised and admitted that his son
was a habitual thief. The items had already been sold.
“Itunu (Babalola) reported this to the police, who told her
to return on Tuesday, November 5, 2019. The appointment held on Wednesday, November
6. There, she says the DPO informed her that the suspect was his nephew. He
then offered her a settlement worth roughly N100,000 to drop the case.
“She refused the settlement, citing the disparity between
the value of the stolen items and what was offered. Next, she says the visibly
enraged DPO tried everything to frustrate her into dropping the case, including
making her travel to Abidjan for a police appointment.
“In Abidjan, she hired a lawyer to attend the appointment
with her, all to no avail as the police refused to cooperate. Frustrated, she
returned home to Bondoukou. Around 5pm the following day, a convoy of police
vehicles showed up outside her house and publicly arrested her.
“On getting to the station, she was charged with theft — the
theft of her own items in her own apartment. She spent the next four days in
police custody, after which she was taken out of the cell and offered her
freedom if she agreed to sign papers dropping her case.
“For whatever reason despite the clear bad faith displayed
by the Ivorian police, Itunu says she rejected the offer and chose to go to
court instead. She says she then overheard an officer saying ‘Elle est une
Nigériane? Elle mourra ici!’ (She’s a Nigerian? She will die here).
“The decision to go to court turned out to be a monumental
error of judgment compounded by her own naivety about the Ivorian justice
system. The (French-speaking) court did not allow her adequate legal representation
or give her a chance to properly state her case.
“She was speedily convicted and sentenced to 20 years
imprisonment. Further complicating this was her decision to identify herself to
the court as ‘Becky Paul’. She says she did this to avoid getting her family
name mixed up in bad news and potentially upsetting her aged mom.
“As a result, for the past one year and 4 months since her
conviction, Itunu, alias Becky Paul, has become, to all intents and purposes, a
forgotten inmate at the notorious Maison d’arrêt et de Correction Bondoukou
(Bondoukou Remand and Correctional Facility).
“When her Nigerian friends in Cote d’Ivoire approached the
Nigerian Embassy in Abidjan to provide consular assistance for her case,
officials reportedly asked for N400,000 to get her a passport before anything
can be done.”
Hundeyin, who noted that Babalola had spent her savings in
trying to clear her name, said she had attempted suicide twice.
Nigerians on social media started a campaign,
#JusticeForItunu, calling on the Federal Government to ensure her release from
prison.
A Twitter user, @Sikowitz17, urged the government to also
ensure that other Nigerians detained unlawfully were released.
He said, “As we get #justiceforitunu, please let’s reach out
to other African countries to get our citizens wrongly accused out of their
prisons too. Schooling in the Republic of Benin, I know how many Nigerians got
arrested for practically nothing and are still in prison today.”
Another Twitter user, Joseph Yomi, said, “Whenever I read
about how some African countries are hostile to Nigerians, it just makes me
sad. Let’s create more awareness about this Ìtunu case until something is done
about it. #justiceforitunu.”
Another user with the alias, Pontius Pilate, stated that
Babalola’s case was one of many Nigerians unlawfully detained in Ivory Coast.
Reacting, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, through its
Twitter page @nidcom_gov, promised to investigate the matter.
It tweeted, “We will investigate and get back with our
findings. Our mission in Abidjan will also help out.”
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