Shock as father disowns 10-yr-old son for roaming the street

It came as a shock for residents of Abeokuta when a father who claimed to be fed up with the erring ways of his son publicly disowned him and invited who ever was interested to come and take him away. Vanguard Metro, VM, gathered that the enraged and seemingly irrational father of the rejected child, Sodiq Wasiu, is an Abeokuta-based Tipper Lorry Driver known simply as Baba Sodiq.
Baba Sodiq was reported to have disowned and abandoned his 10-year-old son, for roaming about the streets of the town since January.


The good news is that help has come Sodiq’s way as  the state government has come to his rescue by adopting him. Explaining how the innocent boy was rescued, former Secretary, Zone G of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, told VM that Sodiq was sighted at Iwe-Iroyin Press Centre in Abeokuta and on interrogation confirmed that he had been on the streets for months.
Brief interaction
Sodiq, during a brief interaction, claimed that he has never attended any school even at his age, adding that his mother left his father some years back and now resides in Lagos.
It was further gathered that the victim after he was ordered out of home participated in the fuel subsidy protest which took place in Abeokuta some months back, though the organisers were ignorant he was a homeless child.

The young boy in an interview said he makes ends meet by soliciting for alms and sleeps under shanties in any part of the town he finds himself. However, after narrating his plight he was taken to Ibara Police Station by where he was accommodated for 24 hours.
Police report obtained
According to Kayode-Adedeji, the State Commissioner for Social Welfare, Mrs Elizabeth Shonubi, has been contacted, but she advised that a police report should be obtained for onward transfer of the boy to the Ministry.
”This was done and the police handed over the boy back to me and I subsequently handed him over to the Ministry at about 2.30pm on Thursday,” Kayode-Adedeji said.
As at the time of filing this reports, the Welfare Ministry has relocated him to the Juvenile Remand Home located at Asero, Abeokuta where it is believed he will enjoy better upkeep.
VM, however, learnt that when the police visited the Erunbe home of the father in the town, he was reported he had avoided meeting them. According to family sources, he was simply fed up with the boy and had sworn he would not have anything to do with him anymore, including having him under his roof. The sources informed that the father’s claim was that the boy has become notorious for frequently running away from home for no justifiable reason.
However, some residents who spoke to VM faulted the father’s disposition towards the boy, arguing that the little boy’s alleged run-away tendency was not enough reason to abandon him.
From a broken home
On his own part, Kayode-Adedeji who has taken up the  challenge of seeing to the boy’s welfare, observed that he was just an innocent boy who needs affection and attention. “He is from a broken home and in view of the fact that the mother had since parted ways with the father, it’s not surprising that he will display some errant behaviour which I think is not enough to leave him to his fate.
“After my interaction with him, I am optimistic that his future is bright if given needed affection. He told me that he is interested in going to school and I want to appeal that we should rally round him. I visited him on Sunday. You needed to be there to see his excitement when he saw me. I burst into tears because I realised he had missed the affection of his parents. And that is why I’m inviting all and sundry to join hands with us to make life meaningful for this boy”.