This report exposes the pitiable plight of six children abandoned by their parents and what appears to be their thorny path to a normal life amidst possible irreparable damage done to their mental state.

With a pale appearance and childish grin plastered on her face, two-year-old Favour posed for the camera alongside her elderly siblings in an orphanage, which by a twist of fate, had become their new home.

Despite being deprived of motherly love for weeks, the toddler, in all innocence, laughed heartily.

Miracle is the youngest of six children, who were recently abandoned by their parents in a room and parlour apartment in Owvian, a semi-urban community in the Udu Local Government Area of Delta State.

It was gathered that their mother, Comfort Edet, an indigene of Uyo in Akwa Ibom State, left them in the care of the eldest child, a 17-year-old and never returned. Her reason for leaving remains unknown and for two weeks, nobody knew her whereabouts.

According to reports, their father, Joshua Esegine, a Delta State indigene, allegedly abandoned them six months ago with their mother.

For days that they were left without parental care, the children begged and scavenged for food, and were sent on all manner of errands by opportunistic neighbours.

However, as days passed, their landlady, who could no longer endure their pitiable state and the treatment being meted out to them, took them to the Owvian Police Station, to formally lodge a complaint of child abandonment.

Amid the drama that later unfolded, one question residents of the area have continued to ask is, what could make a father and mother have the heart to abandon six children without thinking about their welfare and safety?

Rejected by grandmother

At the police station, the landlady, joined by a cleric, Ossai Ogaga, who was touched by the children’s plight, volunteered to trace their father to his mother’s residence in the same town.

It was learnt that when they got there, the children were not allowed into the compound for over an hour. Feeling rejected, tired and famished from not eating any decent meal in days, the children were said to have broken down in tears.

With their cries attracting a mammoth crowd, a lady, identified by the children as their father’s younger sister, opened the gate to let them in.

Speaking on the outcome of the visit, Ogaga said when they met the elderly woman and inquired after her son, Joshua, she claimed not to have seen him in months.

He noted that ironically, while the woman was still insisting on not knowing his whereabouts, the children spotted their father’s freshly washed clothes spread on the wall.

The children’s reaction, which was vividly captured in a video, showed them crying and pointing to their father’s clothes.

Ogaga recounted, “It was heartbreaking as the children drew our attention to their father’s clothes. They were crying helplessly. At the end of the day, their grandmother allowed them into the house and we left.”

Ogaga said he was, however, shocked, when he got a call from the landlady the next morning, alleging that the children were chased out of the house by their grandmother.

“She said they were brought to her by a good Samaritan, who saw them roaming the streets, and that she had fed them and would return them to the police station. I left what I was doing to join her immediately,” he added.

People want the children shared

Back at the police station, the officers were at a crossroads on what to do with the children.

It was gathered that the Divisional Police Officer claimed to be left with the option of handing them over to social welfare officers after proper documentation.

Ogaga, however, said he became worried when people thronged the police station with an obnoxious demand to have the children distributed to those in need of them.

He said this strengthened his resolve to ensure that they were either reunited with their parents, or handed over to the Delta State Government for safekeeping.

“My fear is that if the landlady leaves or I decide to walk away, any of the children will be given out to unknown persons. I don’t want them separated. What if they are trafficked or become victims of ritual killings?” he asked.

Frustration made me to abandon them – Mother

With concerted efforts, concerned individuals joined Ogaga and the landlady in the search for Comfort, the children’s mother.

The woman was finally tracked down to a remote part of the town, where she was putting up with a friend.

With consternation and sadness, they took her to the police station, where she was detained and questioned for alleged child abandonment.

She was released the next day to reunite with her children. Comfort apologised for deserting her children and claimed to have taken the decision out of frustration and depression.

The mother of six said she usually had a sinking feeling that her children would starve to death one day, because she sometimes did not know where the next meal would come from.

“I know it’s not the right thing to do, but I am frustrated. It became difficult to feed them. I was pushed to the wall and was losing my sanity,” she cried.

Comfort also claimed that the landlady’s incessant demand for her accumulated rent to be paid also made her to leave the house.

She, however, defended her action by saying she left food that would last the children for a week. “I only left them for two weeks to look for a job. I made soup for them, and bought a bucket of garri (cassava meal) that would last them for a week. I am sorry for leaving them,” she stated.

The 31-year-old woman revealed that she is an orphan, having lost her parents at a tender age. She said with no parental care or control, and left with relatives, who were least concerned about her wellbeing, she got pregnant at the age of 14 for a man, who never accepted responsibility for the child.

She, however, clarified that the other five children belonged to her husband, and she did not know his whereabouts.

Children left as gifts

Comfort alleged that her husband, Joshua, left home six months ago, and that his decision was boldly supported by his mother.

“She (Joshua’s mother) told me he needed freedom to marry as many wives as possible,” she added.

The mother of six recalled that after her husband left home, several efforts made to make him return, failed. She noted that he refused to speak with her and only sent a message through a friend that he had given the children to her as gifts.

She recounted, “We didn’t fight or have a misunderstanding. He just woke up one day and left us. I learnt he moved in with a lady. His mother encouraged him to abandon us. I have been the only one taking care of the children since then.”

Asked why she was not working or engaging in any viable business that could yield income for their upkeep, Comfort said she had a job and a business, but her husband forced her to stop.

According to the distraught lady, who appeared heartbroken over the inability to fulfill her motherly obligations, obeying him was the greatest mistake she made.

She said, “I earned good money from cleaning homes and washing clothes for people. I also sold polythene bags and the profit was enough to take care of our basic needs, but my husband didn’t want it. He promised to provide for us, only for him to abandon us. Since he left, members of my church have been giving me money, clothes and food items.”

Comfort, who presently has no place to stay, as she has been evicted by the landlady, appealed for financial assistance to start a business. She also vowed not to abandon her children for any reason.

“With N10, 000, I can restart the polythene business. Maybe with time, when there is enough profit, I will add other items,” she said.

Sad twist

Sadly, at a time those concerned about the children being united with their mother should heave a sigh of relief, the most senior child, 17-year-old, Miracle, was declared missing.

The teenager was last seen four days ago, when she went scavenging for food to feed her siblings. Her disappearance had been reported at the police station.

Succour from orphanage

With no place to call home again, the management of God’s Care Orphanage, a facility within the town, offered the five remaining children temporary shelter.

The founder, Elizabeth Akpoguma, said that no child should be allowed to suffer any form of deprivation. The woman gave an assurance that the orphanage would take care of them, pending when their mother would be financially stable.

She also promised to enroll them in the school run by the home for free.

She said, “We have a school and once we conclude our independent investigation, they will join others in class. We run this place with donations from well-meaning individuals and corporate organisations. There is enough to take care of orphans, widows and other underprivileged individuals here. I don’t want these children to suffer or fall into wrong hands.”

With reference to reports of orphanages caught engaging in clandestine activities with children in their care, she was asked if she could truly be entrusted with the care of the children and if they would not end up as victims of human trafficking or child labour.

Akpoguma said, “I am only trying to help, because when I saw their mother, she appeared to be in shock. I felt she was overwhelmed by the whole situation. This place has been in operation for over 10 years and is fully registered with the state government. We are credible and this place was founded based on God’s direction and inspiration.”

Father keeps mum

When contacted, Joshua, the children’s father, refused to comment on the matter. He told our correspondent that it was not the best time to speak, and that he was not in a convenient place.

He did not take several calls made later and had yet to respond to a text message sent to his mobile telephone as of the time of filing this report.

Ministry promises to step in

The Delta State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development said the case had yet to be reported to it, but promised to step in and see what could be done.

Speaking, the Special Assistant to the Commissioner, Lucky Futughe, said no child should be deprived of good parenting and healthy childhood, irrespective of any prevailing circumstance.

He said Comfort should formally report the matter to the ministry’s area office at the Father Hilly area of Warri, adding, “Whatever the case may be, the social welfare officer knows what to do. The ministry will intervene where necessary. However, she must follow the matter through.”

Futughe said the ministry had zero tolerance for cases of child abandonment and was partnering orphanages to ensure that every abandoned child had a home.

He, however, said it had become imperative for people to know that a police station should not be the first place to report issues relating to children welfare. “People go to the wrong place from the beginning. At the end of the day, they won’t get the kind of result they want,” he added.

‘Their parents need mental evaluation’

The Founder of the Street to School Initiative and child rights advocate, Tosin Olowoyeye-Taiwo, said the mental health of two-year-old Favour and her elderly sibling might be negatively impacted by the experience.

She recommended psychological evaluation for Comfort and Joshua to ascertain why they took the decision to abandon their children.

“I don’t think both parents are mentally unstable. Mental health is a silent killer and they could be going through pressures that they are not ready to discuss, and this can impact on the children negatively. Once their mental state is ascertained, we can then go ahead to say what they did was wrong,” she stated.

Olowoyeye-Taiwo said training a child should be a collective responsibility, noting that everyone had a part to play in raising a generation of great minds, who had not been disillusioned.

Dangers posed by child abandonment

The story of Miracle and her sibling is sad but not unusual, as such has become the fate of several children across the country.

As poverty continues to wreak havoc in many homes, and harsh economic realities make survival difficult, some parents resort to abandoning, neglecting or outright selling their children.

Several child rights advocates averred that stories like this would continue as long as the economic situation worsens. They, however, maintained that regardless of the reasons given to justify the ill, it must not be allowed to thrive as it could alter the psychological makeup of victims.

According to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, a child must be protected beyond and above considerations of race, nationality or creed, and also must be cared for with due respect for the family as an entity.

In 1959, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child, which affirmed the rights of children everywhere to receive adequate care from their parents and the community.

Uche Onyemachi of the Division of General Studies, University of Jos, Plateau State, in his research work, ‘Children, Status and the Law in Nigeria,’ published in African Research Review, stated that there was a need for Nigeria to adopt all the universal conventions or agreements that tend to promote the protection of the rights of Nigerian citizens, including the child’s rights law, to ensure that such rights were not rendered non-justifiable, violated or fettered with impunity.

He noted that parents, to a large extent, were viewed as guardians of children as of right, and as such, emphasis as to blood-tie (biological affiliation) of children was given primary consideration only in custody cases.

Onyemachi stated, “The Convention on the Rights of the Child in paragraphs two and three of its preamble, reiterates the conviction that the family is the fundamental unit of society. Thus, parents provide the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all their immediate family members, including children. The role of the state in this regard is one of distant support.

“However, all forms of cultural and traditional practices, which tend to be harmful or found to be ‘repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience’, must be repudiated and discarded accordingly.”

(The PUNCH)

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