"I Don't Know Where My Kids Are": After Spending 30 Years Abroad, Nigerian Man Returns With Nothing
- A Nigerian man said he lived in London for nine years and in the USA for 21 years, but in the end, he returned home sick
- He said one night, after making love to his American wife, he started barking like a dog, but the cause of the sickness couldn't be explained
- According to the man named Pastor Joseph Ibironke, he had four children with his American wife, but he doesn't know their whereabouts
A Nigerian man has narrated a painful story of how he lived abroad for 30 years but returned empty-handed.
Pastor Joseph Ibironke said he moved to the UK around 1983/1984 in search of the proverbial greener pastures.
Source: UGC
He left his job at Union Bank to look for a better life in the UK, where he lived for nine years.
He told his story:
"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."
During those nine years, he worked as a security guard.
He continued the story:
"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."
Pastor Ibironke moves to the US from the UK
Not satisfied with the UK, he moved from the UK to the US, where he ended up spending 21 years. He told Punch Newspapers in an interview:
He said he became a very successful electronics dealer in the US. His words:
"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)."
He got married to an American woman
He was blessed with four children in the USA, but he does not know where they are right now. He said:
"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."
He got sick and returned to Nigeria
Narrating how he got sick and eventually returned to Nigeria, Pastor Ibironke said his American wife left him when he couldn't recover. He was married in Nigeria with two children before moving abroad. His Nigerian wife had to leave his house because she was kicked out by relatives after he left for the UK. His first son from his Nigerian wife is now 43 years old.
He told how he got sick in America:
"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 pastor said he suffered man years sleeping under the bridge in Lagos until a certain pastor intervened with prayers. He said:
"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."
Another man returns after 20 years abroad
Meanwhile, Briefly News reported that a Nigerian man in his mid 50's became a security guard after he had spent between 15 to 20 years abroad.
The man spoke excellent English language as he narrated his life story and how he has been trying to be happy.
Many Nigerians who heard his story were moved as some praised his spoken English that could rival anybody's.
Source: Legit.ng
Rianette Cluley (Director and Editor-in-Chief) Rianette Cluley is the managing editor of Briefly News (joined in 2016). Previously, she worked as a journalist and photographer for award-winning publications within the Caxton group (joined in 2008). She also attended the Journalism AI Academy powered by the Google News Initiative and passed a set of trainings for journalists from Google News initiative. In February 2024, she hosted a workshop titled AI for Journalists: Power Up Your Reporting Ethically and was a guest speaker at the Forum of Community Journalists No Guts, No Glory, No Story conference. E-mail: rianette.cluley@briefly.co.za
Denika Herbst (Editor) Denika Herbst is a Human Interest writer at Briefly News. She is also an Industrial Sociologist with a master's degree in Industrial Organisational and Labour Studies from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, which she completed in 2020. She is now a PhD candidate at UKZN. Denika has over five years of experience writing for Briefly News (joined in 2018), and a short time writing for The South African. You can reach her via: denika.herbst@briefly.co.za.
