The Federal government has demanded a full autopsy on the sudden and mysterious death of Ìtùnú Babalola, a Nigerian, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in Ivory Coast for alleged human trafficking.

A statement signed by the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa states that Itunnu’s case was drawn to the attention of NIDCOM about 5 months ago.

Mrs Dabiri-Erewa described the death of Itunnu as a tragic blow, at a time the Nigerian mission in Ivory Coast had paid and engaged the services of a lawyer to handle Itunnu’s appeal case.

She explained that unfortunately, Itunnu died abruptly while all hands were on deck to seek both legal and diplomatic intervention for her by Nigeria.

The statement says Itunnu was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for an offense she did not apparently commit because she accused an Ivorian of a robbery at her residence and insisted on filing a case against him.

The accused who happens to be related to an Ivorian policeman, demanded her to drop the case, but she refused.

It says that Itunnu went ahead to file charges against him and allegedly used a different name to file the case and somehow a case of robbery which she filed mysteriously turned into a case of human trafficking against her.

She was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment while the Nigerian mission in Ivory Coast supported by the Nigerian community, got her a lawyer, paid part payment of legal fees for the lawyer, to appeal the judgment, while at the same time seeking diplomatic intervention from the Nigeria Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While the appeal case was ongoing, Itunu was said to have had complications from diabetes and was rushed to the hospital.

The fees for the treatment were paid by the Nigerian mission through the lawyer whose services were engaged by the mission, unfortunately, she died suddenly after a few days on admission at the Hospital.