Sad Story Of Man Who Returned To Nigeria Homeless And Broke After 30 Years In The Diaspora

A Nigerian man, Joseph Ibironke aged 68,has recounted how he spent over 30 years in UK and US in search of greener pastures only to return back to Nigeria poor and broke.

In an exclusive interview with Punch, Mr Ibironke revealed that he was in his early 30s between 1983 to 1984,when he left his job at Union Bank and moved to the UK for 9 years,working as a security guard for Burns International Security Services Limited.

In the process of searching for better living condition,he moved to the US where he first worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Police Department before resigning to be a pastor.He also recalled becoming a successful electronics dealer.

Mr Ibironke recalled losing contact with his four children born in the US, because their mother left him when he fell terribly sick.

Narrating the events that led to his strange illness,Mr Ibironke said he had started barking like a dog and foaming in the mouth, one night after being intimate with his wife, leading to him being rushed in an ambulance to the Cal State Teaching Hospital, California.

He stated that the doctors were unable to dictate the cause of his strange ailment after spending 14 months in the hospital, after which he was advised by the Nigerian Community in the US to go back to Nigeria to seek spiritual help.

On returning back to Nigeria, Mr Ibironke recounted being abandoned at the psychiatric hospital and later at the Kiri Kiri Correctional Service,after his relatives abandoned him.He started sleeping under the bridges in Lagos until a fellow pastor, named Labe Orun interceded.

Mr Ibironko recalled regaining a partial recovery under the counsel and assistance of Prophet Ezekiel Oladeinde after he spent six years at the Pakoto Prayer Mountain in Ifo, and it was after his recovery in 2014 that he realized he was in Nigeria.