Fausat Balogun ,72 Year Old Nigerian Woman Held For Drug Trafficking Is Dead, Buried In Brazil

For Fausat, the end came in a prison for old people far away form home in Brazil.

Reportedly,the trip to Brazil was  her first time outside Nigeria.It was supposed to be a medical trip but she was to become  a drug courier without her knowledge. She died in Brazil, heart broken and has been buried in Brazil, as it were ,to continue her sentence.

Fausat Balogun  died on the 30th of October, 2012  after a mild stroke caused by  high blood pressure which she got worse before arriving at the penitentiary for old people. She died at the hospital for women inside the penitentiary.

No family member came for her body so she was buried at the Vila Formosa Municipal Graveyard in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Her case first came to limelight when  the chairman of the House of Reps committee on Diaspora, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, told the Nation that a 72 year old Nigerian woman, identified as Fausat Abosede was among 457 Nigerians being held in Brazilian prisons over drug related offenses.

Hon Dabiri-Erewa traveled to Brazil with some members of her committee on a fact finding mission after the woman’s plight and that of at least 456 other Nigerians, including 14 women, serving various jail terms over drug offenses, were brought to her attention by an NGO known as ‘Youths Without Borders’.

The law maker  later told Nigerians that the said the 72 yr old woman was lured to Brazil on the pretense of helping her get medical attention by another Nigerian lady called Patricia.

When it was time for the old woman to go back home, Patricia allegedly gave her a parcel to take back to Nigeria which turned out to contain hard drugs. She was arrested at the airport as she tried to leave the country.

Because of her age, Fausat was not in prison as Brazilian law forbids jailing anybody above the age of 70. So shewas held in confinement  awaiting conviction before  she would be sent to a remand home .Hon. Dabiri said legal representation was arranged for Fausat and other Nigerians in Brazilian jails.She died at a hospital for women inside the penitentiary in Brazil.   she was buried at the Vila Formosa Municipal Graveyard in Sao Paulo, Brazil.