The fear of abandonment can leave one traumatized accompanied with loss of concentration. This is the fate of three siblings have been abandoned for eight years by their parents in Solid Model College, a boarding school in Abule-Iroko in the Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The children identified as a 14-year-old Seun Adepegba, 10-year-old Seyi, and 13-year-old Titilola, have been living like orphans since the divorce of their parents.
According to Punch reports, it was learnt that their ordeal dated as far back as September 24, 2007 when their father, Mr Segun Adepegba, decided to send them to a boarding school because he couldn’t afford to take care of them singlehandedly.
The proprietor of the school, Mr Samuel Ayegbusi, said, “Mr. Adepegba told me his wife had just left him and that he could not afford to take care of them, being a jobless man. The children were very little. Seyi was two, while Titilola was five.
“Mr Adepegba had pleaded with me to accept them in the boarding school. Mr Adepegba’s sister promised to bear the cost of their upkeep. They paid an initial N150, 000 for the three children for the first term.”
However, he revealed further that the children’s father never showed up ever since then to know the well-being of the children adding that after the first term, he didnt come to pick his children for the holiday and never showed up until after four years.
Meanwhile, the proprietor disclosed that the school had spent above 7 million Naira to take care of the children since they were abandoned by their father.
Although the school have been trying to reach the family of the abandoned children, the efforts have always been futile as the calls were always ignored and including the ones directed to Adepegba.
Ayegbusi said, “Whenever we called him and he realised who was talking on the phone, he would switch off his phones and for the next two weeks, the numbers would not be available. When the school contacted their father’s sisters, we were told that they had travelled out of the country.
“When we called one of them, we were told that they had sent money to Mr Adepegba to defray the children’s school fees and upkeep. But Mr. Adepegba has never come here to make any payment since the initial deposit he made in 2007.”
Ayegbusi lamented the difficulty in taking care of the children as one of them, Titilola, had started exhibiting some strange character which included fleeing from the hostel twice without informing the school authority with the excuse that she was going to look for her father.
He added that the school authorities locked her up in a room since she was she was captured to avoid future occurrences as she had sworn to embark on the mission again until she finds her father.
He said, “The school is not even bothered by the cost of their upkeep. But anytime the school closed for holiday and parents come around to take their children home, Titilola would fall into a sober mood and twice, she had run away from the hostel without informing anyone. It was a resident who stopped her and brought her back to the school.
While recounting their ordeal, Titilola said, “We do not know who our mother is. We grew up in Yaba, Lagos and all we remember is that there was a woman that washed our clothes and took care of us until we came here. We knew she was not our mother.”
Seyi said, “Although I have a faint memory of my father, I will like to see him. If he comes today, I will ask him why he left us for so long.”
While Seun added, “I don’t care how long he has left us. I just want to see him. I really need to see him.”
