The three children Titilola, Seun and Seyi whom their father abandoned in a boarding school for eight years finally got their prayers answered when their father Segun Adepegba visited them at the school on Friday.
Emotions ran wild when children and father reunited with Adepegba promising never to abandon them again.
Last week Punch carried the story of how a father Segun Adepegba abandoned his children Seun 14, Titilola 13 and Seyi 10 at a boarding school for eight years without coming to see them or a phone call to ask after their welfare.
Adepegba who finally bowed under pressure after the social media was buzzing with the story visited the school in company of his four friends. He was however prevented from being attacked by an angry mob.
The moment of joy and reminiscence, however, lasted for a short time as the staff of the school and the residents swooped on Adepegba, blasting him for abandoning his children. A mild drama ensued when an aged sports facilitator in the school, Godfrey Olopele, who sighted Adepegba from the gate, asked, “Is this the father of the children?” When told it was him, he said, “I have some words for this man. You have not done well. You are very wicked. How could you abandon your children for so long?”
Adepegba's friends however stated that he never told them he had children in the boarding school. One of them said, “I have known Adepegba for a very long time but I never knew that he had children somewhere. It was until I saw his photograph in the newspaper that I was shocked to know that my friend had some children somewhere. He had never mentioned a thing like that. I still wondered why he kept something as important as this from me.”
Another friend of Adepegba, identified as Ola, said, “I am a father and I can’t leave my child for that long. Adepegba’s behaviour is really condemnable. When I saw his picture, I jokingly told him, ‘Adepegba, you have become a superstar. So you have children somewhere?’ I was surprised.”
Adepegba who took in all the insults stated, “I have offended a lot of people. I have offended my children. I have offended Nigerians. I accept all the blame. And I am really very sorry. I understand that what I have done is very wrong. I was afraid of two things: One was that if I came here, I would be arrested and the second reason was the accumulated debt of the children’s school fees. I reasoned that if I should come to the school, I would be handed over to the police. “I really miss my children and this time around, I am going to change. I want them to have a good educational background so that they can become important persons in the future. I don’t want them to suffer. I will never leave them again. But all these years, I have been battling with hard times. Things have been very tough for me''.
People however asked him to seek for God's forgiveness. A friend of the school proprietor said Mr. Adepegba's return has shown that God has answered their prayers because special prayer vigils were held for this cause.
The school proprietor said he suffered especially when Titilola ran away from the school and he had to go and report at the police station. He said she was arrested as the first suspect and was only released on bail after spending N50,000.
The children's next prayer is to meet their mother. And their father Segun Adepegba has promised to look for their mother and bring her to visit them.
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