Orekoya Parents Recount Emotional Trauma they Experienced Over Children’s Disappearance

Leke Orekoya, the father of the three children who were kidnapped in Lagos but later rescued, on Thursday advised parents to devote more time to their children as they accorded to their work.

Orekoya, whose children were rescued on Tuesday night, gave the advice when he spoke with journalists at his residence at the Lawanson area of Surulere, Lagos.

He said that he was very happy and overwhelmed with joy when he saw his children.

Orekoya said his children were found in an uncompleted building where they were covered with nylon at Egbeda suburb of Lagos.

He said that their abductors abandoned them and fled when they noticed the police had closed in on them.

“On sighting them, they were rushed down to the Police College Hospital for a necessary check-up. We passed through a traumatic experience for almost one week when we were still searching for our children. Then, I remembered how I used to bond them together when they were around; I could not sleep at all; I think about how my children could come back alive.

Although we knew that they were going to be released that day we saw them, but we were not given the actual time before they were finally released around 10.30 p.m. in the night. We were called to go and get them at Egbeda and when we got to the place, it was an uncompleted building and they were there naked.

We took them to the hospital for treatment before we brought them back home,’’ Orekoya said.

He added that the family had been subscribing for the services of a nanny through OLX for over three years and never had any complaint.

“We got our first nanny from OLX and she stayed with us for more than two years until she decided she wanted to leave. We got the second one who spent three months and told us she wanted to go and spend Easter holidays at her home town and we realised she was not coming back again. It was then we decided to subscribe for another one who spent less than two days when she perpetrated this evil. We cannot charge OLX because it was only a platform for you to meet or transact any business. We ought to have done thorough check before we finally accommodated her,’’ Orekoya said.

His wife, Adebisi, said that she had not fully regained herself from the trauma even when the children had finally returned.

“This is not our first time of hiring nanny from OLX and they did fine but the way I see this one, I think she is a professional kidnapper. The way she performed on the first day, in fact she behaved well, cleaning and taking care of the children and thus leaving no chance for suspicion. It was her behavior that convinced us that she was a very experienced nanny and left us with no reason not to allow her to take care of them before the incident. I advise that people should do a thorough check before hiring a nanny,’’ Adebisi said.

The Orekoya family commended the effort of Nigeria Police Force, the media and everybody who had contributed financially and morally toward the rescue of their children.

The family, however, declined comment on whether any amount was paid as ransom.

NAN reports that the nanny has been apprehended by the police for interrogation as investigation was already ongoing.