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The joy of the family of Ikimot Awojoju knows no bounds as she has been reunited with her family in the Oyingbo area of Lagos, five years after she went missing.

It was gathered that Ikimot lived with her guardian after her mother, Faidat Awojoju, passed away.

She reportedly went missing on her way back from school on July 23, 2014.

Ikimot’s guardian, Ajoke Abass, said she sold her valuables to raise the money needed to search for her but all efforts to find her proved abortive.

Abass told PUNCH Metro that after two years, she stopped searching but kept on praying for the safe return of the girl.

The Kwara State indigene said Ikimot’s return was an indication that her prayers were answered as everyone had assumed that she was dead.

The mother of four said, “Ikimot’s mother was an area sister to me and we took each other as family members. She already had a child before she got pregnant with Ikimot. The man responsible was not ready to accept the pregnancy and she wanted to abort it. I advised her against it and stood by her throughout the course of the pregnancy until she put to bed.

“I was the one looking after the child, while she was going about her business, because I am self-employed. When Ikimot clocked two years, her father came to apologise and promised to assume responsibility for the child’s upkeep, but he did not keep to his promise after her mother died.

“Ikimot was three when her mother died in 2011 and none of her family members was ready to take over the responsibility of taking care of her and her brother, so, I decided to take it up since I was the one taking care of her before and I was the one that encouraged her mother not to abort the pregnancy; Ikimot was in my custody and I took her older brother to one of my brothers, who is a cleric, to help me train him in the Islamic way.

“On the day that Ikimot went missing, she did not come back from school at the usual time and after some time, I told my children to go and check her in the school. They returned to say that they could not find her. I went to different police stations in search of her.

“I sold all I had to raise the money needed to conduct the search for her. After two years, my husband told me to stop searching and that I should just keep praying for her. And anytime my heart reached out to her, I would give alms to the poor on her behalf.”

Abass said when Ikimot returned, she could not recognise her initially, adding that the girl helped the police to arrest her captor.

“On Tuesday, February 26, 2019, I was outside the house playing with my children, when one of my neighbours called my attention to a girl that stood afar off. She asked if I recognised her and I said no, but the girl was smiling at me. My neighbour asked the girl if she knew me and she replied that she used to live with me.

“I took a second look at her and that was when I was flooded with memories of what she looked like. She arrived around 10pm and people were with us till midnight. When I took her into the room, she noted that I had changed the position of the bed, which really confirmed that she was the one, but she no longer understood Yoruba as she could only speak pidgin English and Igbo.

“In the morning, I took her to the Denton Police Station and I explained everything to the officers there. They took her statement and she kept on repeating an address as the residence of her abductor. We went with the police to the address and the woman was arrested.

“At first, the woman claimed that she was Ikimot’s mother, but when she was asked to provide her childhood pictures, she said she did not have any. She was also unable to produce her birth certificate and the girl insisted that she was not her mother.

“I was asked to bring everything that could prove that she was mine and the police also requested that her father must come to the station to corroborate the girl’s statement, which he did. When he came, the girl also recognised him as her father but the woman kept on insisting that she was the mother of the child.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that another child was also recovered from the suspected abductor, Christiana Onuchukwu, who eventually allegedly confessed to the police to have bought the children for N350,000 each.

She, however, failed to reveal the identities of the persons who sold the children to her.

“The 12-year-old girl, who was released to me on Monday, said she found her way back by asking people for direction,” Abass added.

Ikimot was quoted as saying, “On the day I was abducted, I was on my way back from school when a woman called me. When I went to meet her, she held my hand and took me away. One day, the woman I was made to live with (Onuchukwu) scolded me by saying that she would take me back to my family in Oyingbo and I held on to that.

“The day I wanted to leave, I kept telling people that I was going to Oyingbo and I was told to keep trekking. When I got to a point, I told a man that I was going to Oyingbo and he said that it was not far. He asked me if I had any money on me and I said no. He gave me N50 to board a tricycle.

“When I got to Oyingbo, I remembered that I usually passed through a rail track on my way back from school and I remembered that there was a storey building opposite the house I used to live in. That was how I was able to trace the house.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Chike Oti, said investigation into the matter was ongoing.

“The girl has been reunited with her family. The woman that was found with the children has been arrested and investigation is ongoing,” he stated.

https://punchng.com/pupil-reunites-with-family-five-years-after-going-missing/amp/

See more photos here >> https://gistmore.com/pupil-reunites-with-family-5-years-after-going-missing-photos

To God be the glory, the abductors should be made to face the music

APC states and issues

This girl is super intelligent for her to still trace her way back all alone. She's the real mvp...

Nice one from the girl.

May God be with her and restore all that is lost for her guardian and family

Very smart girl. There is no peace for kidnappers


Meanwhile

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Thank God o!

This little girl need to be award... wonderful, what a smart girl.....as for the ipob lady that kidnapped the girl, may you rot in jail.

Wetin weak me na d woman wey still dey lie say na her pikin....abeg follow me on Instagram jrmentor....and get ur goodies

Oche211:
This girl is super intelligent for her to still trace her way back all alone.
She's the real mvp...

Police can say something else

Ghen Ghen see Movie..... THINGS DEY HAPPEN FOR THIS COUNTRY SHAA..

Ezemarcel:
APC states and issues

PDP states and issues....

This is the type of news we need Every morning to brighten our day nd cling to hope nd not the likes of kenya people nd bobrisky dem

Hmmmm let me Sleep till 2Pm ;p

she no even fine sef

Please pray for BbqMannagrillz, (S)he has been missing after the presidential election, i just hope (s)he has not been roasted....

Waoh! Now, I can forgive the guardian for not recognizing her when she showed up. That transformation is from another planet. Na wa for Mrs Onuchuckwu o.
Kudos to the guardian. It's clear enough that she was really taking good care of the girl before her abduction. There are still good people left in this wicked world.

Oche211:
This girl is super intelligent for her to still trace her way back all alone.
She's the real mvp...

Her name said it all. IKIMOT mean wisdom.

I give God the glory that she came back alive and save her adopted mum the embarrassment of suspecting her in her missing case

That woman that abducted her should just be left in a room to starve and die

She deserves a painful death

thank God for her return, and thanks to d crippling govt for not developing d area after five years, if not she for no remember her house, basically most areas in Nigeria 5years ago are still d same or even worst today.

NewDelhi:
went missing at age 3 , still remember things vividly at age 8.. Where did she get that kind of memory from. .This is called childhood amnesia its very rare to remember events of aged 4-5 not to talk of 3 and below.

She was 6 years when she got missing, not 3. I remember things that happened when i was 2. There are very few people like me who exist. Not everyone forgets everything from 4 to below. Some of us have extraordinary memory that are unexplainable.

I heard first hand information that the woman who actually abducted her sells spices at oyingbo opposite UBA.

They were at the ebute metta magistrate court where people gathered to see her.

They said years ago, she bought expensive jeep and nobody knew her real source of income

God will keep us and our children.

The family of the girl said they are not interested to fight the case.

Police will collect huge amount for bail and release them.

Nigeria police we hail thee