Authorities of Solid Model College, a boarding school located in Abule-Iroko area of Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State are currently in search of a man, who abandoned his three children in the institution for the past eight years.
The school managment said the absence of the parents was causing more harm than good to the kids’ studies.
Punch reports that the trio, namely: Seun Adepegba, 14, Seyi, 10 and Titilola, 13, have been longing to see their parents, who they left almost a decade ago.
It all started in 2007 when their father, a certain Mr Segun Adepegba, went and enrolled them in the boarding school because he could not afford to take care of them after he broke up with his wife.
Narrating the story, proprietor of the school, Mr Samuel Ayegbusi, said Adepegba came to enroll them in his school on September 24, 2007 with a promise to always check on them but never did.
He 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.”
A visibly worried Ayegbusi said after the first term, the school expected him to come and take his children home for holiday but he never showed up until four years later.
He said the school had expended over N7m on the upkeep of the children since 2007, adding that several efforts to reach him hit the rocks.
He 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.”
In fact, one of the children, Titilayo, who could no longer bear the absence of her parents had vowed to escape from the hostel to look for her father.
Mr. Ayegbusi recounted how Titilayo ran away from the hostel twice without informing the school authority on the excuse that she was going to look for her run-away dad.
Ever since she was found, the proprietor said the school had had to keep her in a room, under tight surveillance, because she had vowed to run away to find 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, Titilayo would fall into a sober mood and twice, she ran away from the hostel without informing anyone. It was a resident who stopped her and brought her back to the school”.
While recounting their days with their father, the children said he celebrated birthdays with them.
They said they had never met their mother.
Titilayo 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.”
On her part, Seyi, the youngest of the trio, however, said dream was to become a medical doctor and help the sick people.
“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.”
Seun added, “I don’t care how long he abandoned us, l want to see him”.
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