“I don’t know where my kids are” – Nigerian man returns empty-handed after 30 years abroad

A Nigerian man, Joseph Ibironke has shared his harrowing experience of spending 30 years abroad in search of a better life, only to return to Nigeria empty-handed.

The man, who initially moved to the United Kingdom in the early 1980s, disclosed the challenges he faced during his extensive sojourn.

“I left Nigeria in the 1980s. If memory serves me right, I was in my 30s when I left Nigeria, and that should be between 1983 and 1984,” he said.

He recounted leaving his job at Union Bank in pursuit of greener pastures, settling in the UK for nine years where he worked as a security guard for Burns International Security Services Limited.

Unsatisfied with his situation, he later moved to the United States, where he spent 21 years, becoming a successful electronics dealer.

“I was working. I worked as a security officer after I was trained as a security guard at Burns International Security Services Limited, United Kingdom. I was trained as an armed guard. When I moved to the US, I also worked with them for a while,” he added.

In an exclusive interview with Punch Newspapers, the man expressed the pain of losing contact with his four children born in the U.S.

He lamented not knowing their whereabouts, revealing that their mother left him during a period of sickness.

“As I earlier said, I worked with Burns and I also worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Police Department before I resigned because God called me to be a pastor. That was when I resigned in Los Angeles after working for about two years. Also, I had a store in Orange County, California, which was predominantly occupied by whites, no blacks lived there. In Orange County, I sold sophisticated electronics. I was always going to Japan to buy electronics and sell them. I was also the only black in Orange County at the time who made it (was successful).” 

“I was married with four children. Right now, I don’t know their whereabouts and it’s very painful knowing you have children somewhere and you don’t know where they are. But I know that they can’t suffer over there. Their mother left me after my sickness,” the man said.

The man narrated the alarming events leading to his return to Nigeria, disclosing a mysterious illness that befell him in the U.S.

According to his account, his American wife claimed he began “barking like a dog” one night after intimacy, leading to an ambulance rushing him to Cal State Teaching Hospital, California.

Despite 14 months of medical attention, doctors were unable to diagnose his ailment, prompting advice from the Nigerian community in the U.S. to seek spiritual intervention back in Nigeria.

“My wife told me that one midnight after making love together and we slept, I started barking like a dog, and that I was foaming in my mouth. She told me that she was scared, called for help and an ambulance was called and they rushed me to Cal State Teaching Hospital, California. I was there for 14 months and the doctors couldn’t detect what was wrong with me. Nigerians over there (in the US) who saw me and my condition said it was a spiritual attack and advised that I be taken back to Nigeria for treatment,” the man said.

Returning to Nigeria, Pastor Ibironke faced years of homelessness, sleeping under bridges in Lagos until a fellow pastor, identified as Labe Orun, intervened.

Under the guidance of Prophet Ezekiel Oladeinde, also known as Baba Pakoto, he spent six years at the Pakoto Prayer Mountain in Ifo, eventually achieving a partial recovery.

“It was Labe Orun who took me to Pakoto Prayer Mountain in Ifo, where I spent six years before I recovered, even though not completely. It was under the leadership of Prophet Ezekiel Oladeinde, popularly called Baba Pakoto, that I recovered,” the man added.