A mentally-challenged woman, Funke Olajide, who wandered off from Lagos after suffering from mental illness has been found after an eight-year search.
Olajide’s family were quite excited to reunite with her in January 2021 after someone informed them of her whereabouts in Ofoso community, Ondo State.
Unfortunately, the family has been thrown into another round of search after learning that the child she gave birth to during the period disappeared from the Ondo State Orphanage Home, Okure.
PUNCH Metro gathered that officials of the orphanage told her family to forget the child because he had already been given out.
Funke’s brother, Olusegun, claimed that a senior official of the home told them the child was “sold”, so he would not starve to death after the government stopped funding the orphanage in October 2020.
Olusegun said although his sister was recovering from insanity, she had continued to ask for her son.
He said:
“About eight years ago, she went to the Cherubim and Seraphim Church at Olodi Apapa, Lagos. While everybody returned home, we did not see her. We reported at a police station and visited many churches and prayer houses all to no avail.
“After two years, some people said they sighted her in Oyo State. My mum went to look for her, but returned to Lagos empty-handed.”
However, a former co-tenant of my mother, who is an interstate driver, parked his vehicle to eat by the roadside in Ofoso, Ondo. He said Funke called his name and everybody around there was surprised.
He informed them that her relatives had been looking for her. The man later contacted our family.”
Olusegun, who works with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, said in January 2021, he visited the community with photos and documents to prove Funke was his family member.
He claimed to have met the Divisional Police Station in the area, the traditional ruler of the community and a trader who had been taking care of his sister.
“I went to the palace and showed the king the pictures. The monarch was happy and told us some people had been extorting money from him, claiming they could find her relatives.
“I was asked to write a letter to show when we would come for the baby, who was at a motherless baby home in Akure. We said we would do that on a later date and we needed to take her back to Lagos first,” he added.
Olusegun said the family after three days of preparation returned to the community to take Funke away.
According to him, after a few weeks, his sister’s health improved but she started asking for her son.
The brother said in early February 2021, he returned to Ondo State to take the child, adding that the traditional ruler connected him to an official of the Idanre council area, Mrs Abimbola Babayemi.
Babayemi, a welfare officer, reportedly took the child to the state orphanage in 2018.
Our correspondent gathered that the community named the boy Enitan, Oluwaremilekun Akeredolu.
Olusegun said together with a council worker, they went to Akure and demanded to take the child.
“Their director, Mr Ogunleye, was angry when he saw us. He said why did the council not tell our family that we could not see the child again.
“He said the last time the government released money to the orphanage was in October 2020 and so they could not leave the children to starve. He said a man had taken the child away.
“I asked him why they would sell the child because the government did not release funds to them. He saw me with my phone raised and asked if I was recording our conversation, which I denied. He insisted we could not get the boy back again,” he added.
Olusegun said her family was apprehensive of the fate of the child and had petitioned the Idanre LGA and the Ondo State Commissioner of Police Special Squad headed by SP Isiaka Ayole.
He alleged that officials of the orphanage were making attempts to bribe the police and cover up the case.
The PUNCH
