Kids Abandoned In School Spend Holidays With Dad For The First Time In 8 Years

Life is no longer sorrowful for the three children abandoned for eight years by their father at Solid Rock Model College, Abule Iroko, in the Ado Odo-Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State. Read their full story here.

For the first time in over eight years, the children ─ Seun, 14; Titilola, 13; and Seyi, 10 ─ are spending their Easter holiday with their father, Segun Adepegba.

PUNCH Metro had exclusively reported the story of the abandoned children last year. Adepegba reunited with the children after reading the report on PUNCH Metro, saying hard times pushed him to the wall.

During a recent visit by PUNCH Metro to the children, they relished the Christmas holiday spent with their father. They added that the Easter holiday they were currently spending with him was exiting.

Seun, the eldest, who is now in SS3, described the Christmas holiday experience as healing.

He said, “When we spent the Christmas holiday with my father, we did so for the first time in eight years. My siblings and I found the experience a memorable one. We were used to staying back in the hostel when other students left, but the story has changed. Our friends no longer saw us as strange children.”

While Titi and Seyi are with their father for the Easter holiday, Seun is presently in the school preparing for his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.

The proprietor of the school, Mr. Samuel Ayegbusi, said since the reunion, Adepegba had not paid the accumulated debt of the children’s school fees. He, however, added that the school would continue to bear the burden because it did not want the children to drop out of school.

He said, “Since they reunited with their father, their performances in class have improved. They spent the Christmas with their father and presently at home for the Easter holiday.”

It was gathered that efforts to locate the mother of the schoolchildren, Ruth Okochi, had continued to prove abortive.

Their father said, “I thank The PUNCH readers who expressed concern over my children’s welfare in the school. Things have been rough for me, but I am struggling to survive.

“It also feels good to have the children with me for the holiday. I am still on the lookout for their mother and I know I will locate her soon.”

It will be recalled that PUNCH Nigeria Limited, publisher of Nigeria’s most widely read newspaper, The PUNCH, had facilitated the setting up of an endowment fund for the children.

The decision was in response to requests by readers of The PUNCH, who had shown interest in paying the accumulated school fees of the children to ensure that they continue their education.