I grew up in a family of six. I’m the fourth child. I had my secondary school in Benin. I stayed with my uncle in Benin and left for Lagos in search of a job. I came to Fumilayo. I’m from a very poor home. I took housemaid job to raise money to further my education. Fumilayo has four kids; Danjuma, Lolade, Ibrahim and Habeeb. Danjuma and Lolade are sevenyear- old and Ibrahim and Habeeb are one and half year old.
How did you get involved with Fumilayo?
I applied for a housemaid job on OLX. My parents were not aware. They are in the village; I was at Benin, living with my uncle. I applied at Benin through OLX, they invited me to Lagos. When I got to their home, they searched my clothing and took away my phone.
They took my phone, saying they needed to know me better for a month before they would return it. After two months, they gave me back the phone, but they had removed the SIM. When I asked for it, they said they misplaced it. They promised to search for it because I needed to call my family. I wanted them to know I was okay and not to panic. One day I approached her husband, telling him that I would like to call my parents, they all got angry. I only wanted to speak with my dad. He would be worried and scared. The man said I should wait until six months before I could call my dad.
What happened after that?
The issue of this kidnapping happened!
You said you worked with them for five months, how much and many times were you paid?
I was paid two months out of the five and my salary was N10,000.
Did you ever go out on your own?
Never! One of the women always goes out with me. There are two wives and two brothers in the flat. There was never any opportunity to make a simple phone call to my family.
Did you realize at that point that you were a kidnapped victim?
I never knew because they were nice to me and took very good care of me.
At what point did you know you were kidnapped?
Just yesterday after SARS men arrested Fumilayo. Tell me about Michael and Rafael. That was at Ajah. We were told that Fumilayo travelled out. She came back on a Sunday night. Before then, they asked me and Mercy, the second maid to go out with the kids. When we came back, they said Lolade and Danjuma should come in first. It was strange.
We started wondering what was happening. I heard Michael and Rafael playing with the four kids. I said to myself, Mummy was back. When we went in, we saw mummy, but they refused to allow us to see Michael and Rafael. On Monday morning, they said we should start packing, that we were leaving the house.
That was when I saw the two kids for the very first time. I also saw them at Dapson Hotel at Shagamu. On Monday night, Akeem said Fumilayo should leave with the kids. They moved to Davidson Hotel. They were there for a day and left again for Golden Prince Hotel, where we stayed for three days. On Thursday afternoon, they called her and asked her to leave that hotel.
They spoke in Yoruba. I don’t understand the language. She said I should start packing. I saw her mixing a medicine in a cup. I guessed it was a sleeping drug for the two boys. She said I should go out. I didn’t see her give the kids the medicine. She came out later without the kids; I asked about them, she said I should forget about them. We boarded motorbikes and went to meet others at Ijebu Ode.
Who did she tell you Michael and Rafael were?
They said they were kids of family friends. They said the kids came for a holiday since it was Xmas period.
Do you know if they collected ransom?
I don’t know.
What about the three kidnapped kids? Are Rafael, Michael and the three kids the only kids you witnessed in that house?
Yes! As for the three kids, Fumilayo travelled again. The husband’s brother, Akeem said she went to Abuja for an interview.
She left on Sunday and came back on Monday. She said we should not go close to the passage because a guest was using one of the rooms. We asked who? They said the person is a celebrity. When we probed further, they said the celeb was Waje the musician and her family. They were our guests.
They said Waje was shy. We heard noises in the room, but we never saw anybody. But mummy’s kids told us that three kids were inside the room.
I never believed until the day SARS came around the area. I saw the family trying to rush the kids out. I saw three kids. I didn’t see a woman. Later Akeem said they rushed the kids out because Waje’s husband was looking for them. They said Waje abandoned her kids and ran away, that she wanted to tarnish their good name. They took the kids, put them into sacks, bundled them into a car and zoomed off.
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