#EndSARS: After Miscarriage In Cell, Nigerian Woman Regains Freedom After Nine Months’ Detention
A Nigerian lady, Bukunmi Ayodele, on Thursday regained her freedom from an Ondo State prison where she had been detained after police arrested her for EndSARS protest in October 2020.
SaharaReporters learnt from her lawyer, Tope Temokun, that Ayodele’s bails conditions were perfected on Thursday and she had regained her freedom.
The woman was arrested alongside Kemisola Ogunniyi on October 22, 2020, and the case of the duo had become a public interest with many Nigerians lambasting the police for arresting the two innocent young women as EndSARS protesters.
SaharaReporters had on June 22 reported that an Ondo State High Court sitting at the Olokuta Medium Prison in Akure granted bail to Ogunniyi, 18-year-old girl detained over #EndSARS protest who birthed a baby at the Surulere Prison in Ondo town, Ondo East Local Government Area of the state.
The police had claimed that they were EndSARS protesters who burnt the office of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state last year, about eight months ago.
The three others were; Ayodele Bukunmi, Ojo Samuel and Ani Obinna.
The charges preferred against them were conspiracy to commit the following felonies, to wit: arson, riotous assembly, stealing and malicious damage.
In an update sent to SaharaReporters on Thursday, the lawyer noted that Ayodele would still need the assistance of Nigerians to get back on her normal life, despite her freedom.
The lawyer noted that the lady suffered miscarriage in prison and had no medical aid till her release.
The lawyer said, “Today, being August 5, Bukunmi Ayodele just regained her freedom. In this way, Bukunmi joined the league of Nigerian youths who have sacrificed their freedom in order that Nigeria may be free.
“The case of this EndSARS detainee who was arrested on the 22nd of October, 2020, alongside Kemisola Ogunniyi, was one of the public interest cases we took up in public interest towards the end of the first quarter of this year 2021 after being abandoned in prison for many months.
“The bail was granted Bukunmi on the 8th of July 2021. But the perfection of her bail conditions of N10million and one surety in the like sum could not come through so easily, for a child who has almost nobody except her poor mother.
“She regained her freedom this evening after we perfected her bail conditions. On behalf of Bukunmi Ayodele, I wish to express sincere gratitude to the Nigerian people for their outcry and moral support shown when the case came to the public domain. Special gratitude to Omoyele Sowore for his passionate intervention at all critical intersections in our collective fight for a just society where the child of nobody could have a voice and a stand.
“Today, we bought new cloth to clothe Bukunmi Ayodele as she dropped her green prison uniform of 11 months. Bukunmi will need assistance of those whom God is willing to use for her, to get back on her normal life. She was engaged before her ordeal. She suffered miscarriage in prison and has carried through her condition of post-miscarriage complications without any medical aid till her release.”
In short videos sent to SaharaReporters, an elated Ayodele appeared in the new clothes and thanked Nigerians and activists who stood by her during the ordeal.
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SaharaReporters, New York
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