How abducted Orekoya boys became friends with kidnapper’s children

The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Leke Orekoya–Aderomola (11 months old), Adedamola (4 years old), Demola (6 years old) ─ who finally regained their freedom on Wednesday, having spent seven days in the hands of kidnappers, have yet to fully grasp the enormity of what they went through.

But as much as their innocent minds could comprehend, they have been able to describe life in captivity.

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Playfully, the oldest of the children, Demola answered questions our correspondent put to him.

Thirty-five-year-old Funmilayo Adeyemi, who abducted the three children, after she resumed work as a nanny at the couple’s Surulere home, has four children.

Those four children quickly turned to tools of her heinous business after the Orekoya boys were brought home.

In order to ensure the children did not miss home too much, Adeyemi allowed the children play with her own children.

Demola told our correspondent that neither he nor brothers cried when they did not see their mother in those seven days.

“The woman asked us to play with her children. We all played together, though their television was not working, we only played around the house. We did not cry because we had people to play with,” the boy said.

He went further to say, “She (Adeyemi)brushed our teeth every morning but she only bathed us in the morning. She did not bathe us in the night like our mummy does for us at home.”

The children love cartoons but that was too much of a luxury for them to enjoy in captivity.

“We could not watch cartoon network because the television in their house was not working,” little Demola said.

He said he misses his friends and could not wait to play with them again, but that surely will be under the watchful eyes of their mother, Adebisi Orekoya.

Adebisi told us in an interview that she is still in shock and has not been able to let her children out of her sight since they got back.

“For now, they would remain in my sight. I have to remain with them,” she said.

Asked if she was planning to resign from her banking job and stay home full time for the time being, she said she had not made that decision yet.

It would not be an overstatement to say that Adebisi Orekoya is the happiest woman alive. The banker did not hide this fact on Thursday, as she poured out her mind on why she would always be thankful to God and the people who were sympathetic to her family within the seven days they searched for their three kidnapped children.

Having advertised on online sales portal, Olx, for a nanny, the Orekoyas got a reply from 23-year-old Mary Akinloye, who resumed work at their Lawani Road, Itire, home on Tuesday, April 7, 2015.

The nanny, whose actual name was later revealed as Funmilayo Adeyemi, abducted the couple’s three children the following day while the couple were away from home.

But after seven days of fasting and prayer, sleepless nights, scam attempts, predictions from prophets and negotiations, the Orekoyas got their children back.

Adebisi told us that even though the children have not been able to fully grasp the enormity of what happened to them, they knew they were in the wrong hands for the period they were in captivity.

“They told me the people who took them did not take care of them and they were bitten all over by mosquitoes,” she said.

On Thursday, the Orekoyas addressed journalists in Lagos to extend their appreciation to Nigerians who in one way or the other extended their help to the family.

Adebisi explained that no one could truly understand the relief and happiness that had engulfed her since the return of her children. The kidnappers had loaded the children in a large plastic bag and dropped them around Shasha, in Egbeda area of Lagos.

There were signs of weariness on the woman’s face as she picked her words softly, but her relief was unmistakable.

“I have not slept for a single day since the day my children went missing,” she said. “That is because the kidnappers would sometimes call around 3am for negotiation.”

Adebisi explained that she was only able to sleep on Thursday, the day after the children were found.

“Even as they got treated in the hospital after we recovered them, I still could not sleep. I sat there watching over them so another maid would not come and take them away,” the woman said.

As many people expressed their sympathies for such a terrible fate that had befallen the Orekoyas, some Nigerians home and abroad had expressed on the social media that the family had been careless to have employed a maid through the social media.

Asked what pushed them to advertise for a nanny through an online market, Adebisi said it was not the first time she would get a nanny by advertising online.

According to her, she would not have put her children in such danger if she had any inkling that kidnappers had gone to the extent of also sourcing for their victims online.

Flashing back to the last day she saw her children, Adebisi explained that Adeyemi was extra-nice that day.

“She worked well. She cleaned everywhere and played with the children as if they were hers. With her attitude and the way she behaved, she must have been a well-trained kidnapper,” she said.

But Adebisi had no inkling that she was about to start the worst period of her life.

But the experience has left some effect on the young minds of the children. Adebisi said she feared it might take a while for the youngest, Aderomola, to adjust.

Adebisi said, “One of my children said, ‘Mummy, they put us inside nylon and put us inside the car. It was hot in there.’ They could not say if it was inside the boot of the passenger’s seat. He was just playing.

“They would be okay. The baby is still exhibiting fears. He is afraid and I can understand why. He went through serious harsh conditions and is suddenly seeing love everywhere. He is wondering what is going on.”

Asked if she would ever get a nanny again, Adebisi replied that she had not decided on that yet.

Meanwhile, since the arrest of Adeyemi, who was tracked down through her mobile phone on Wednesday, the police have said investigation was still ongoing on the case.

Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Kenneth Nwosu, said efforts were being made to arrest other fleeing accomplices.