Teenagers flee parents’ Abuja homes over poverty

Two teenagers, who ran away from their parents Abuja homes over issues pertaining to poverty, have been found in Lagos State.

The two boys; Chidubem Amaechi, 13 and Chinedu Onyebuchi, 13, were rescued by operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command on Monday last week.

Their parents, who have been looking for the boys in Abuja since Sunday, May 14, 2017, were shocked when contacted that their children were in the custody of RRS in Lagos. The police ensured they were re-united with theirs parents on Friday.

The RRS operatives were said to have sighted them after they alighted from an Abuja bus at Ojodu Berger, Lagos and started wandering aimlessly.

Amaechi said: “We noticed that our parents were suffering in order to take care of us. We decided to come to Lagos and work for sometimes. Whatever we were able to raise in six months, we would handover to our parents for them to start business. We realised that the hardship was too much and that we would be helping them if we leave our families in Abuja in search of better opportunities in Lagos.”

While fielding questions from the policemen, the teenagers initially lied that they were kidnapped and blindfolded before they were driven to Lagos by their abductors. They claimed to have escaped from their abductors while they were sleeping under the bridge before Ogun –Lagos long bridge. 

The officers moved the boys to the RRS Headquarters, where an investigation into their kidnapping was launched immediately. While the investigations were on, officers suspected the children were lying about the kidnapping story. 

It took three days of questioning before, Amaechi opened up that he and Onyebuchi connived to leave Abuja because of the poor states of their parents.

Amaechi further said: “I brought my N4, 200:00 savings while Chinedu added N500 as fare to Lagos. We were already in Lagos before we realised that we were simply being stupid. We were wandering about when the officer invited us for questioning.”

The Commander, RRS, ACP Olatunji Disu, who received the parents of the teenagers on the fifth day of being in the  custody in his office, appealed to parents and guardian to monitor and take good care of their wards.