Blind mother’s missing kids found in Lagos orphanage after 10-month search

Two-year-old Excel Forte, the daughter of a visually impaired woman, Agnes who was reported to have gone missing on November 28, 2023, while in the company of her step-sister, Joy, has been found.

Agnes raised the alarm over the disappearance of Excel from their residence in the Akowonjo area of Lagos State. Agnes said she was in the room when the 13-year-old Joy and Excel were both playing along the corridor of their apartment. She said he could no longer hear their voices after a while, and attempts to locate their whereabouts since then had been unsuccessful.

The mother of the twins said that they were eventually seen at an orphanage home in the Bariga area of the state, Punch reported on Monday.

She said efforts to locate them since the incident proved abortive until her mother-in-law got a call from the orphanage home indicating their presence in the facility.

She said, “We have kept searching for them since they left home and all our efforts were not successful. This was until my mother-in-law reached out to us and told me that she received a call from someone who informed her of the whereabouts of the children. She said they promised to get back to her and they later called again and said the kids were in their orphanage around Lady Lak in Bariga.”

The husband, John, said the two kids were found wandering about when a police officer rescued them and took them to a welfare centre.

He further stated that, upon getting to the location, Joy decided to conceal details about herself.

He said, “I went to the orphanage and saw them there. I was told they were seen wandering about at Ago Palace Way the second day they left home and were approached by a policewoman who interrogated them and took them to the Alakara Police Station. It was from there that they were brought to the orphanage home.

“But when they got there, Joy did not disclose anything to them about her background and where she came from until about three months ago when she decided to reveal details about herself to them and that was how she gave them the contact of my mum.”

John disclosed that it took him weeks before the orphanage could release them to him as he had to perfect some documents, including a court order granting their custody to him.

When asked if Joy disclosed reasons for her actions, the father said she had yet to.

I have asked her repeatedly but she did not disclose any reason for her action. When we thought she was speaking to a strange person before she left home with her sister that day, she said it was her grandma that she was talking to.”