Undergraduate disappears after desperate call to mother

missing boy

father, step mother and brothers

May 5, 2013, was Dayo Julius Orimogunje’s first time to visit his father in Lagos State after spending about 22 years of his life with his paternal grandma who took him under her care since age one, after his father travelled overseas in search of greener pastures.

Dayo, a 200 level student of Psychology from the Osun State College of Education Ilesha on the fateful day, left Ilesha to spend some time with his father and his step mother, Mr. and Mrs. Orimogunje in their Ajare, Badagry home in Lagos because his school was on strike.

Dayo was apparently quite happy to have been reunited with his father. The time came for Dayo to go back to school in Ilesha as the management of his school had called off the strike. Although not too happy that the strike was called off, he promised his father that he would come back and pay him another visit soon.

Dayo however disappeared into the thin air since that May 13, 2013, after he left his father’s house in Badagry to Ilesha. It is believed that he never got to his destination in Ilesha and neither did he return to his father’s home in Badagry.

The young man’s whereabouts had been unknown for over a month now since his father and his step mum bided him farewell at a park situated in front of Lagos State University (LASU) quarters gate in Ojoo, where he boarded a bus going to Mile 2.   

 It was gathered that trouble started when Dayo’s parents could no longer trace his movement between Mile 2 and Ojota three hours after he left their Badagry resident.

According to Mrs. Lola Orimogunje, Dayo’s step mum, Dayo was telling her about his movement until when he started speaking in a suspicious way after he called to inform her about his movement between Mile 2 and Ojota.

Her words: “Dayo was communicating with me as if somebody was commanding him on what to say on phone.  I became so worried and bothered when he suddenly told me that he was somewhere at the stadium watching football but his voice was shaking as he spoke to me. He boarded the mile2 bus at about 9am and we were communicating till around 12 noon before the unexpected development and his line was suddenly switched off. Immediately he told me he was at the stadium, even before I could ask where the stadium was, the phone had been switched off.” 

Mrs. Orimogunje added that she gave her step son a standing order that he must call to update her on every park he stopped since it was his first time to come to Badagry.

Dayo was said to have called his step mum on getting to Mile 2, telling her that he was already in a bus heading towards Ojota only for him to have called back in a short while that he was watching football in a stadium.

In spite of the strange feelings she had, Dayo’s step mum still held on to her faith that the break in communication between her and Dayo was as a result of flat phone battery or network problem.

Mr. and Mrs Orimogunje however became apprehensive the following day, May 14, after they put a call across to Dayo’s biological mum to confirm his arrival only for them to hear that he had not gotten back to Ilesha where his mother had been waiting anxiously for him.

Almost choking on tears which continually streamed down her cheeks, Dayo’s step mum said she hoped nothing unusual had happened to the young man.

Her words: “Despite the fact that I knew something had gone wrong somehow, I still consoled myself with the thought that maybe his phone was off because the battery ran down. But we all became really restless the next day when he had not gotten to Ilesha and he didn’t return to Badagry.  His mother and I started praying on phone for his safety because Dayo is a respectful, obedient and humble boy. It will hurt so much if anything bad had happened to him!”

Dayo who is the only child of his biological mother however raised the spirit of his parents when he was said to have put a distress call across to his mother in Ilesha with a strange number.

Daily Newswatch gathered that Dayo called his mother around 2. 00pm with one MTN number 08133129516 and told his mother that he didn’t know exactly where he was and that he was attacked inside the vehicle that had been taking him to Ojota.

It was also gathered that he said that he had been dispossessed of his bag, money and sandals.

His mother quickly sent the strange number to Dayo’s step mother who in turn gave it to her husband. The worried father quickly called and spoke with the man that claimed to be the owner of the line.

The man was said to have confirmed that it was true that a lad had come to make a free call at his business centre. The man said that the boy looked haggard and had no shoes on when he came begging to make the desperate phone call. The man who also claimed he gave Dayo a loaf of bread when he started crying that he was hungry ,bluntly refused to disclose how to get to the business centre which he said was somewhere in Festac  town.

Immediately the Orimogunjes got hold of this information, they contacted the police station in Badagry where Dayo’s disappearance had earlier been reported but they were however put off by the attitude of the officers at the police station.

It was gathered that there had been no report from them concerning the missing boy and the number alleged to be a business centre line by the man that claimed to be the owner has been switched off due to what seemed to be the result of the persistent calling from Dayo’s father to persuade the owner to meet with them so as to locate the area where Dayo had made his last call to his mother.

When Daily Newswatch contacted the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Badagry Police Station, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Mr. Dankoli, who referred the reporter to the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), the DCO denied recording any official report or documentation about a missing boy on May 7, 2013.

 Dayo’s father however insisted he reported the incident at the police station.

According to Mr. Orimogunje, the police showed little interest in Dayo’s case.

 His word: “I made the report myself on May 7, 2013, a day after he went missing. We went to mile2 Police Station and we were referred to Badagry Police Station. It was there I was asked to submit my son’s picture after stating my case. I made sure that the officer that attended to me documented it in a notebook. I made sure that my case was documented to avoid what you have just been told, that the case of my missing son was not reported. That is one problem with most of Nigeria’s rank and file officers.”

Dayo’s biological is grieving, fearing the worst as she had just re-united with her son four years ago after the boy left his paternal grandmother’s place in Ibadan Oyo State.

It was also gathered that his Dad was advised by Dayo’s step mum to allow him to go and locate his biological mother when he was 18 years old. It was an advice Mr. Orimogunje took and asked his son to go in search of his mum in Ilesha.

The arraignment for Dayo to school in Ilesha was for him and his mother to get to know each other better, especially because he is the only child of his mother but the first of his father. 
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