The fate of a missing 10-year-old pupil of Command
Day Secondary School, Ilese, Ogun State, Victoria
Ibijoju, has remained uncertain after she
mysteriously went missing.
Metro Plus learnt that while the school management
launched a search for the JSS 1 pupil, they came
across a pile of bones in her school uniform two
weeks later.
Her school bag, foot wares and books were said to
have been found beside the bones in a bush around
the school compound.
But the victim’s father, Mr. Christopher Ibijoju,
insisted that the bones were not that of his daughter.
Christopher, an IT engineer, told PUNCH Metro that it
was impossible that within two weeks that his
daughter went missing, she would have decomposed
to the level that no flesh could be found.
He added that despite the heavy rain that fell in the
area during the period, the bones he saw were very
dry and disjointed.
The victim, who stayed with guardians, Mr. and Mrs.
Emuyibo, had gone missing on June 23, 2014, after
she did not return home from school.
Her father, who lives in the Ogijo area of the state,
said he got a call from Mrs. Esther Emuyibo, on
Tuesday that his daughter did not come home on
Monday.
He said:
“My daughter stayed with the Emuyibos and I usually
send them money for her feeding and upkeep. She
was formerly staying with a teacher in the school,
who found another job and asked us to keep her with
them.
“We never had any problem with them. On Tuesday,
June 24, 2014, Mrs. Emuyibo called me that my girl
had yet to return from school.”
He said he went to the school the following day,
where it was also confirmed by the school
authorities. The management of the school, the
parents and guardians were said to have organised a
search party to look around the school.
They reportedly did not see her throughout that
week. Christopher said he also went to the Ilese
Police Division to report the incident.
“The first Monday in July, the school administrative
officer called me on the phone and said I should
come over to the school because he had seen
something very terrible. He did not disclose what it
was on the phone.
“When I got to the school, they told me my daughter
had died. They took me to a place where we saw a
pack of bones in her uniform. Although her school
bag, books and shoes were there, I told them it
couldn’t have been my daughter,” he added.
It was at that point that the school management
disclosed that the victim had followed her friend,
who lived in the barracks, to her home on the fateful
Monday she went missing.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the duo slept in the
barracks that night, but as early as 6am, the victim
was asked to hurriedly leave because her friend did
not inform her parents that she was bringing in a
visitor. It was learnt that she did not report in the
school that morning.
After the bones, which Christopher vehemently
rejected as his daughter’s, were found, the guardian,
Mr. Victor Emuyibo, was arrested by the police.
He was said to have been transferred to the State
Criminal Investigation Department, Eleweran.
The victim’s father explained that the bones were
taken to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching
Hospital for forensic test. He said,
“The bones were packed in a nylon bag; they were
disjointed. They were taken to OOUTH. A professor in
the hospital, who examined them, said they could not
be less than six months old. He, however, suggested
a forensic test which requires N1m.
The police said they don’t have budget for it and I
also don’t have the money. So, we don’t have any
report on it as we speak.”
The victim’s mother, Mrs. Funmilola Ibijoju, said the
family believed their daughter was still alive. She said
this had been confirmed by spiritualists, adding that
they had continued to pray and hope that she would
return home. She said:
“I know that my daughter is still alive. We appeal to
the school management to use their power to find
out where she is.”
When contacted, the Commandant of the school,
Captain Abubakar, said he was not aware of the case.
However, the immediate past commandant of the
school, Lt. Col. Aliyu A.B. confirmed the incident and
said the school had handed over the case to the
police. He said:
“The matter is with the police. Before I left the school
in December, 2014, the police arrested the guardian
of the girl and detained him for some time and took
the statements of everybody involved in the case.
“They also invited everybody involved in the matter
and they were taken to Abeokuta. The cantonment
commander was also involved and we did our best.”
When contacted, the victim’s guardian, Victor,
declined comment. He refused to talk over the phone
and when Punch offered to come to his house, he
also rejected it.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer,
Muyiwa Adejobi, said he would get back to Punch on
the matter, but had yet to do so as of press time.
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