''My daughter is six years old and is in grade one. We live about a kilometer away from school so everyday okada man whom we are familiar with takes her to school and returns her home in the afternoon because both my husband and I are working and we leave home early, just after she goes to school.
One day when I was at work I received a call from her class teacher requesting me to avail myself there as soon as was possible.
“What happened to Angel?” I questioned anxiously.
“Nothing to panic about, just make sure you come before we break up for the day.”
Of course I panicked. This had to do with my daughter and I was worried sick about her. I immediately excused myself from work and hurriedly took the first transport available. I burst into the classroom panting and sweating.
“Mama Angel,” The teacher started. “We will talk about this privately.” She led the way to an empty office and I followed meekly.
“Do you see your child off when she comes to school?” Was her first question.
I didn’t know where this was leading to, so I just replied with a short “Yes.”
“What time does she leave home?”
“She gets picked up a bit early because I have to rush to work. So around 7:00 to 7:15 a.m.
“How does she behave then?”
“She behaves normally.”
“I want you to brace yourself with what I’m about to tell you. Are you ready?”
Did I really have a choice? I just nodded.
“Angel arrives here around 8:30 every day,” she started calmly. “For some time, she has been coming to school in tears every morning. First I thought it was because she didn’t want to come to school. Several times I asked her what the matter was but she didn’t give me a reply. Today when she arrived she was crying as usual so I took her aside, gave her some sweets and promised her some more tomorrow. Then I asked her in a very friendly tone why she cries every day and the answer shocked me.”
She took a breath while looking at me and the anxiety almost killed me.
“Mama Angel,” she continued with caution. “The okada man has been raping your daughter every morning for some time now.”
“What!” I almost fainted. I surely would have fallen down if I had been standing. For God’s sake, Angel was only six! How heartless can some men be?
“Every day after picking her and before coming here, he would take Angel to his house, rape her and threaten to kill her if she ever tried to tell anyone. Then he’d bring her to school.”
I felt dizzy. Why? Why my little Angel? I was sweating. My whole body was shaking.
“Should I call your husband?”
“No!” I shouted. He might do anything. Patience was something alien to him. I had to find a way of breaking the news to him.
After a while, I decided to call his sister. Together we could try to talk to him.
The news shattered my husband. He cried uncontrollably. Then he got so furious that he swore he would strangle him, but we told him not to take matters into his own hands and just leave the law to do its work. We reported the matter to the police. We gave them the details of the boda boda man.
They caught and took him in. We took Angel to the hospital after getting a p3 form from the police.
He was found guilty of raping our little girl a multiple number of times and was sentenced to a twenty year jail term.
My call to all parents:
Absolutely no one should be trusted with our girls. Take time to drop your kids to school, be friendly with them, teach them to be polite but never to trust strangers, ask them about their day and always make them trust you enough to open up in case of any unusual incident.
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20 yrs will not undo the damage that has been done. Only God can heal that girl.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how the parents of this girl didn't know or find out until the school had to call to tell her what has been happening.
If he is not a relative, even if a relative, keep your eagle eyes on the children both girls and boys.
Its a wicked world out there. Find time to talk with children everyday. 1 hour, 45mins is not too much for to get feedback on how the day went.
I pray she grows stronger n overcome this bad experience..
DeleteSo who do we trust bayi, it’s a real sad situation 🦋
DeleteI just hope she gets therapy and outgrow the trauma. The mum and dad has no excuse whatsoever, one of them can ride the okada with her,drop her off in school and go to work. I drop my kids in school at 6.30am everyday and pick up by 4pm,even though my house is a 30mins walk from their school.
DeleteThis woman is a CARELESS mother,who leaves her kids with an okada driver biko. What sort of carelessness is that. Im just too angry abeg.....and it was the teacher dat even noticed the child behaving strange. Doesnt this woman bathe her atleast supervise the childs bathing.
DeleteReminds me of a family friend dat sent her child to cross to the other side of Ikorodu road just to buy meatpie for her and a car hit dat child crossing the express....see people cursing the mother.
God will also punish dat okada man, u shld have allowed ur hubby to beat him to stupor before handing him to police.
How is it that it is only the mother u are calling careless and not both parents??? @beds and roses
DeleteI SAID WHAT I SAID Eka Joy.....yes im calling the mother especially careless bcos whether u accept it or not we mothers have a sixth sense and what we call motherly instincts; its how God made us....few men possess it. My mother noticed d slighest thing in me,fathers are just too busy and are not maternal dat way. Even in Animal Kingdom Mothers are the protectors with the instincts. Even if its a pregnant teen the mother notices first.
DeleteThis is year 2021 where everybody knows these dangers. Who in their right senses leaves her child alone with an okada man. Those crazy okada dat even rob adults. Cld she not find smone to ride along on the okada with the child?
Parents, please I am begging us. Don't trust anyone with your child. Both parents can't be working that early. For the sake of your families, their should be some kind of compromise. Please,I am begging. Even our boys are not safe. Protect all children!
Delete😞
ReplyDeleteTerrible, I can't trust any one with my female children. The way I monitor my brother-in-inlaw that's living with us cos of my two year old daughter, my wife will be shaking her head. Not taking chances
DeleteNot just your female children, but the male too. Predators don’t care about gender. May God continually protect us and our children always, Amen.
DeleteSuch a sad story. May God heal the little child, Amen.
Let me just believe that this is one of those stories that are conjured to pass certain lessons and messages because I don’t want to believe any parent would be so stupid and reckless to have that kind of foolish and bizarre arrangement. A six year old child on a okada??? Unsupervised? That ain’t it.
ReplyDeleteMe and you both
DeleteI truly hope this is fiction. How can ANY "PARENT" GIVE THEIR CHILD TO AN OKADA MAN UNSUPERVISED!. a 6 year old girl?!. I cannot believe it!
DeleteTrust me, 🥺I have seen younger in my area, I had to tell the mother to try and do better.And she had the nerve to tell me the okada man was their " church member". The warning I gave her, she won't forget me in a hurry. Careless and lazy woman 😤
DeleteIt's very possible. I've seen parents have a personal keke man that comes to pick their children and take them to school.
DeleteOh snarker, common it happens!
DeleteAs I'm typing now it happens, from age 2 parents arrange bike men that will pick and drop their children from school.
It's a reality.
I'm shocked!! Of all people to entrust a child with, a random okada man??!!!.
DeleteAsides rape, what of all the kidnap cases happening around? God forbids that kind of carelessness!
I thought I was crazy when i thought along this line. But how can two grown adults leave a vulnerable 6 year old child to the care of a full grown adult non-relative let's start from there. No, this is too careless not with the stories you have heard in the past and you both threw caution away. I pray that child heals IJN.
DeleteIt’s obviously a fake story. Okada man in one place, boss boss man in another place. Mr/Mrs/Ms Storyteller, decide where you are, Nigeria or Kenya.
DeleteYou are a very careless woman, you leave your 6year old daughter with okada man cos u are rushing to work, with all these child abuse stories flying around. I have 3 sons and I can't imagine leaving them alone with a stranger in the comfort of our home let alone leaving them with an okada rider, you have failed that chid.
ReplyDeleteAbeg calm down. What has happened has happened. I'm proud of them for taking action. Some parents would have tried to pretend it never existed. By taking action, they've ensured that no other child would ever go through that again.
DeleteAahh,as a mother,this is heart breaking.Her innocence taken away by a monster!Lesson learned,never get too comfortable leaving your child with anyone,both strangers and those you're familiar with,it's also applicable to the boy child.Obi agbawala m😓😓
ReplyDeleteMa'am, first of all you write so well, so I will cancel any thoughts of you not being exposed
ReplyDeleteYou left your 6 years old daughter in the hands of a bike man, a stranger and for one day, you never called the teacher to ask, whether she has arrived school
I won't be so shocked, if Angel stays alone when she gets back from school
Such carelessness from both parent. Hear me well Ma, always have it at the back of your mind, that you enabled Angel rape. Carry that forever with you, where ever you go. I pray she grows up and not damaged from the act
I pray I become a governor one day, or a judge, cos all rapist will be sentence to death, and if I'm a governor, I will sign for such to take place. They don't deserve a place on earth
Is not just girls, little boys are being raped by gay men too. We need to be careful and vigilant with our children these days. Trust on one.
ReplyDeleteSaw it on a group yesterday and I’m just trying not to imagine the agony of the child and of the parents.
ReplyDeleteI hope that okada man and others like him rot in jail.
If this is true then the parents need to be jailed for child neglect too!.
DeleteAbroad that child may be taken away from them. Its neglect.
DeleteA 6 year old with Okada man??? That's too mean on the part of the parents too. I apologise if anyone feels offended. You see, I have girls and don't even allow them to go on holiday at my in-law's place because other children are always there too and I don't know how they are being trained. They called me names and deserted me, but I don't give a damn cos when my kids are matured, and know left from right, I can release them. (TI IDI BA BAJE, TI ONIDI NI ONDA). I hope the child will be able to forgive her parents when she grows up.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, both gender are being violated right now and one must not limit the discussion to a girl-child alone. Boys are also raped, molested on a daily basis. My advice to parents that have busy lives is simple, if the husband's job pays more, the wife can resign and be an entrepreneur, she can establish something for herself as well as taking care of her home cumbersome children and vice versa.
You see this world we live in, it's a wicked world especially this part of the continent that we are. Don't be surprised that, if the OKADA MAN has "LEG", he will bail himself out and the ,after will be swept under the carpet... This story broke my heart wahalai
My senior bros wife resigned from her Bank job when she started having issues with her first nanny. She got to know she invites men in when they have gone to work and they had a baby.
DeleteShe resigned and started baking from the house. Now that the kids are grown and in Boarding house she went to do her Masters and has returned back to her career.
Not everyone can do this anyway,but if you can afford to,its worth it.
Gbamest, I can't even trust my kids (both male and female with strangers). My dad never allowed us spend holidays with relatives till we became matured and now I understand why. You can come to stay at my place where I can supervise and trust me if I notice any kurukere movement, it's bye Felicia.
DeleteThe only places your children can be out of your presence is school and Sunday school. Even children party is cancelled. I never attended parties as a child and I didn't die. My father took us to school and back. Took us to church and back. That was the only routine I knew till university days.
ReplyDeleteParents please the money you are looking for at the expense of your child's well being, may it not be the same money you will use to wipe unnecessary tears. The woman up there could have avoided that but carelessness showed up. Six year old with okada man? Tell me something else. This is gross carelessness. I'd rather not work. Who am I working for? Is it not this same child? I feel so pained at this story. Please 20 years is too small!
Stories like this makes me want to start my NGO honestly. This kind of story weakens my heart..
ReplyDeleteSo sad. 😰😰😰😰😰
ReplyDeleteI knew where the story was going once I read how the girl goes to school.
Family, marriage involves sacrifice. Avoidance is better.
Before we got married, we considered how much I earn in a month and that of my
husband. We decided, (he volunteered to) that he stayed at home to babysit, take
our kids to school etc. He did it for 7 years for the first three kids. Mind you that
we had a maid, who also went to school. I am happy today how it all turned out.
My husband was able to develop his career at home while doing all these. I don't know
if I can take and internalize stories of events like this. 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
The same you that says that only lazy women have maids. Why couldn't you do all the housework?
DeleteOnly 20yrs????
ReplyDeleteOMG!
My prayer is that God provides for parents to be able to take care of their wards.This story is the reality of a lot of Nigerians that cannot afford some necessities.
ReplyDeleteI would have opt for school bus tro and fro for my child. But I had to pay for coming back only and take the pain of dropping my daughter everyday at school making me resume so early at work and also costing me my sleep. It a sacrifice I have to make just to make sure I am part of her life. I love doing it and there is nothing that happens my daughter don't tell me about. Growing up then I was a talkative, my dad will allow me enter his room when he is back from work to download all that that happened in his absence. I was bullied by my elders ones cos I kept reporting b them to our parent it wasn't intentionally I only had someone to listen to me. I am practicing same thing with my kids and I dont joke with whatever information they give whether from school or home. My career is at sake cos I'm scared of moving to a bigger job and lose the opportunity to be part of my kids life. I pray God help me protect my kids from evil people cos the heart of a man is truly wicked.
ReplyDeleteThank you,imagine taking the easy way out,A BIKE MAN.I am traumatized, I just hope this is made up!
DeleteWhat happened to school bus? Okada man cha? Some parents sha, how can you chose your job over the well-being of your child? Nawaooo
ReplyDeleteNo school bus? My daughter is 12 and I can't entrust her to anyone at that age sef. May God heal the little girl.
ReplyDeletePlease, don't trust anyone with your kids whether they are boys or girls! Protect your children. There are both male and female predators, paedophiles etc.
ReplyDeleteForm a relationship with your kids; don't be unreachable or unapproachable to your kids. They like to talk to those who listen to them.
Why you are pushing your career, know that your kids didn't asked to be born. You made that choice to become a parent, so, it should be your duty to raise them, care and nurture them.
This is why I will always advocate that the both parents shouldn't be doing strenous jobs at the same time. One person must have to sacrifice for the family to progress.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you entrust the safety of a 6 year old to an okada man? Did they ever wonder, what if this man ran away with that girl? What if he sold her to ritualist?
I pity the little Angel who had been so violated at just a tender age. I pray she comes out from the shock.
But wait ooo, the woman is she not the one that gives her child a bath everyday? Didn't she notice the anomaly with her baby's genitals?
I understand money needs to be made but not at the expense of your kids well-being.
ReplyDeleteI don't let my 1 year old out of my sight. Even if she's playing with her uncles or aunties my eyes and ears are everywhere. To avoid pleading guilty to Murder or manslaughter
This is heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteWho is to blame? The parents! This is why it’s so unfortunate the way the world works now. If you don’t grind hard, the common necessities of life could be hard to come by, or one party would want to lord it over the other! This is one reason I can never turn my nose up on any housewife. No one will look after your children like you, none.
If you are a working woman, ensure you have your support system tightly held down, especially who stays with your child when you are not there. If you can’t arrive at an arrangement that works, with adequate controls in place, reconsider the job. Please note ‘having a househelp from the village’ or ‘having my cousin from my uncle’s side’ is not enough. You step out of the house, anything can happen.
This is just sad 😢!
Like!!! Even when I'm home, I'm not comfortable leaving my 1 year old unattended with my help, the world is a scary scary place.
DeleteIt's a sad situation we've found ourselves in.
Parents should try to always communicate with their children, let them have these feeling of I can tell my parent everything.
ReplyDeleteI tell my son everytime that if anyone threatens him so as to keep shut over anything,that he should not listen that I will protect him over anything ,that he should be free to tell me anything and I also do same . I tell him about my daily activities
Abeg ignore any typo
What kind of careless parents are these.Most rape cases of minors and babies,I blame the parents abeg.I don't care what anyone says.This is child neglect and endangerment.Like what would it take to use few minutes before going to work and go drop your daughter with the bike man??.If it means waking up earlier than usual.If the school is too far,then get a school closer to your place of work or house.Is your job more important than your child's life and safety??They were not even scared he might kidnap or abduct her and where would they find him in this Nigeria??Trusting your child with a stranger is just the height of carelessness and irresponsibility.
ReplyDelete20 years is a small punishment for such a grave offence.castrate the idiot and give him his penis to eat.
That thing that will make me leave my 6yr old daughter to a stranger because I have one stupid job or career, God forbid it o. If na garri we go drink. No amount of money can cure that child of lifetime trauma kai. The way the woman even related this story sef as if...
ReplyDeleteThis is so heart breaking. May God heal that girl from this trauma.
ReplyDeleteSeems am going to be a stay at home mom for my children sake,if housrelp are not molesting them,it's the teachers in school or is it fellow neighbours,abi na body camera I go dey implant for my children body wey get GPRS signal and alarm in case there are about to be molested.God safe our children.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, Stella this story breaks my heart, because I'm a victim of child molestation, and it really messed up my life and love life.Those culprits are mostly close to us and you won't suspect them. Parents please be vigilant on your kids, and avoid people calling your little ones my wife, my husband or my in law.
ReplyDeleteI hate that rubbish with passion ehh!! Calling little kids "my wife" "my husband".I play a lot but when it gets to that,my sense of humour is out the window.wetin my mama use nearly break our neighbour head that year.The day she heard it she nearly ran mad and wanted to kill the guy.And she beat my sister on top for not reporting it.Neighbors felt she was over reacting and was too dramatic about it.She didn't care.
DeleteWith the things happening these days,someone is still careless.
ReplyDeleteI don't like seeing a careless mother.
I didn't even read this to the end,oh God.
This is so sad.
ReplyDeleteThis shattered me 😔ðŸ˜
ReplyDeleteI don't even know what to type. I am just sad, very sad! ���� I have 2 daughters and i CANNOT imagine anything remotely close to this happening to anyone of them. Please let's be very careful of who we leave in care of our children. Even relatives CANNOT be fully trusted, except Grandmas maybe.
ReplyDeleteAs for that Okada man, he should be castrated and left to die a slow death. Mschewwww
All of you blaming the parents should please stop it! Yes, they didn't notice until it was too late. Yes, they could have been more careful. But don't forget; Children have been molested in their own homes by their own family members. Children have been molested by trusted family friends. Children have even been molested by their teachers in school. Do you think you as a parent can be with your child 24/7?
ReplyDeleteNot every family can afford to have one parent at home so please stop it! That you choose to stay at home doesn't mean you're a better mother or that you love your children more than the woman who has to work abeg.
Just take appropriate precautions,ensure your kids are so close to you they can tell you anything and train them to recognize these perverts and can scream when touched inappropriately. If God forbid it happens, ensure the pervert is prosecuted irrespective of who he/she is to you and that your child gets the right help to move on.
Anon 15:48, it is not about blame right now. When you read the story you did not think that 2 grown adult parents can be so careless at the same time to say the least. My dear this is beyond foolish no matter how you want to look at it.
DeleteAbeg we cannot stop it!. Because children are molested at home does that mean you leave your little tender child for an okada driver?! Ive never heard such a thing. These kids did not ask to come to this world it is not by force to have children. Once you have them you have to do ALL to protect them. So you want to wait until your child is molested first and start prosecuting after the damage is done. If you not being careful with your children and leaving them with whoevrr you better stop it before they damage your child for you!
DeleteAnon 15:48 you sound like you are guilty of exposing your child/children in a similar way!. If you are please STOP IT! There is no amount of necessity that will make you leave a 6 year old child with an Okada man. No Necessity I repeat! There was definitely a safer option both parents could have used but they were very careless and Yes we will blame them. I am a mother of girls and can't even fathom it.
Deleteyou are missing the point .I understand its not every parent that that can afford to stay home however you dont use your hand to buy trouble ,had it been molestaion from family member at ;least they attempted to safeguard the kid however giving a kid to such a stranger as bike man is totally increasing the risk factor towards that child ..I feel for them all
DeleteNa them, career b4 family. Guilty as F..k
DeleteSix year old left to go to school alone with a total stranger, na wah for some people o. If you don't have a car what happens to making the sacrifice of waking up early and dropping the poor child at school before you go to work. You chose to trust a total stranger with your precious jewel. I doubt the worry you portray when you received the call because if you cared that much for the child this wouldn't happen. Haba now let parents be reasonable please. If you are not ready to be a parent, continue with you job until you know you'll have time to care for and protect your children. I wonder why rapist cannot be castrated, 20 years seems long but flies past so quickly and the fool will come out and be even worse.
ReplyDeleteWhen my daughter was still in the university,she and others had to distribute some questionnaires on sexual assault and collate the results for the school. You needed to see how bewildered she was when she realized that out of every 10 students, 6 had been assaulted, mostly girls.
ReplyDeleteTheir abusers ranged from drivers to gate men to uncles, cooks, lesson teachers, school teachers and very few cases, the dads
I always had issues with them growing up because I never allowed sleepovers,parties, visitations, holidays etc and was always around them. They always felt bad(resentful) when their classmates(secondary school) regaled them with tales about the fun they had over the weekends and holidays
Imagine the rebel leader amongst coming to kneel down and hug me while appreciating the sacrifices
My husband works offshore and was always away. I made sure I was always around them while running my small small businesses luckily for me, money has never been a problem
I really feel for mothers who work tight schedules away from home to make ends meet
May God help us all with raising our children
Amen, kudos
Deleteamen and amen
DeleteGod will help us but let's do our part first,today for instance boarding students around badagry are on holiday and some parents came for their kids and while were left to come back on their own and when we get to agbara one woman ran to our bus asking the students their class and asking if they saw her children and other parents were like can you imagine.please take out time for these children abeg ooo.
ReplyDeleteI really don't like to judge but this is way out of it. There should be punishment meted out to the parents too for negligence. Haba!!!!. There has been so much awareness about child molestation on all social platforms, this is too cheap for any normal person to have fallen victim. You have not done well, even relatives molest children in their custody talk less of a total stranger. Ain't you even scared of ritualist? The parents deserves to be sentenced too
ReplyDeleteMy head aches!
ReplyDeleteJust speechless 🙊
ReplyDeleteAs parents we need to take special care of our kids and be vigilant of people around them always.
ReplyDeleteA friend daughter came to my house for holiday, from one discussion to another she opened up to me( because of how we relate) on how small boys from her compound has been molesting her whenever they go out to play. I was shocked, i asked her if she has ever told her parents about it, she said no and even beged me not to disclose it to them. I had to tell her mum and beged her to be extra careful with her.
We parents need to be more friendly with our kids and encourage them to speek up any time even when we see it as noise or disturbance. Things are happening.
Ewooo this parents neglect toward their child is scary Okada man ke. When I was in a tight situation with my job I also got an Okada/taxi(I call which ever is available comes for the day)man for my child but my sister who was unemployed then goes to/from with him(my own is even a boy). Haba na which kin story be ds. Small 6 year old baby left in the care of a stranger.
ReplyDelete