By Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

The twin sister of a Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, pastor murdered by Boko Haram in Borno State has called for his children, who were abducted by the insurgents but believed to have been released, to be located and returned to the family as a way of preserving the late pastor’s legacy.

Esther Kehinde Adesuyi said her family is worried about the whereabouts of the three children, whom she said have been missing for two years but are believed to be in Borno, Edo, Kaduna, or Edo state.

The pastor, Taiwo Noah, was in charge of a local RCCG parish at a village in Askira-Uba, Borno State, when Boko Haram insurgents attacked in 2014.

In a letter titled “Compassionate Appeal for Assistance in Preserving the Legacy of Late Pastor and Mrs. Taiwo Noah” and addressed to Funso Odesola, a pastor and Special Assistant to Enoch Adeboye, the head of the Redeemed Christian Adesuyi said the children had been released by the insurgents and taken to an internally displaced persons camp in Yola, Adamawa State, but when the governors of the above states visited the camp, the orphaned children were shared among them for safekeeping.

“It was gathered from his interpreter (Pulngwa Jacob Peace) at Askira-Uba that the children upon their release were taken to IDP camp in Yola. The Governors of Bayelsa, Kaduna, Edo and Borno states came to the camp at Yola and the children who have lost their parents were subsequently shared amongst these states. Proper record of the children that were shared was not kept and as such the trail of the children went cold.

“I would like the church to assist in using her resources in locating these children as they are the only legacy of this late couple. The Children and their ages are Temilayo 8, Titilayo 6 and Toluwani 4. This request is coming because I have exhausted my limited resources in this attempt. This will bring solace to my family as we are finding it difficult to live with the reality of the demise of this Pastor and the loss of the Children,” Adesuyi said.

On receiving the letter, Odesola asked the pastor in charge of Borno and Yobe regions to relate with other pastors in charge of Bayelsa, Kaduna and Edo states to find out more about the situation.

“The Mission is desirous of doing whatever is possible to locate these children and rehabilitate them,” Odesola noted.

According to the late pastor’s sister, their foster parents had not been told about his death because of the impact it might have on their health.

“The family members that took care of him while growing up have not been informed of his death till now because of what the shock might cause the ageing people. Our dad died like 28 years ago while our mother died in 2004 and the care of the late pastor was left to our aunt. Taiwo was taking care of our aunt and many of our siblings too he assisted in terms of payment of their school fees and even sending them feeding allowance,” she explained.

Taiwo’s wife too died in the hands of Boko Haram when she was abducted alongside other villagers.

The www.icirnigeria.org had exclusive reported on March 25, 2015 that she died from the terrible condition she was held in as she suffered diabetes and was on a special diet.

Adesuyi said the family was still recovering from the pastor’s death when news of the wife’s death filtered in.

She said that the late woman had a still-birth a week before the attack and that Taiwo had planned relocating his family to the South west before his death.

Olusona Johnson, also a pastor with RCCG in Borno State, recalled how the attacked happened, adding that Taiwo had confided in him two weeks earlier of his desire to move his family out of the state.

“At the time of the incident I was at Strong Tower Parish, Gajali village in Askira-Uba local government, just about 20 minutes’ drive to Dille, where Pastor Taiwo Dokun was the shepherd. Two weeks to the incident, he told me he was planning to relocate his family to the South-West that he was waiting to submit his mandatory monthly remittance to the church.

“Where I was in Gajali, I saw people fleeing from Dille and we heard series of bomb blast and when we asked from those fleeing we were told the insurgents have entered Dille. I was so concerned about his welfare and started calling his mobile, from morning till the next day I could not get through to him, I equally got in touch with one of our senior pastors in Lassa who informed me that he had been trying his number without success.

“We were later told on the second day by some that escaped the town that he had been killed with his family abducted, they equally told us that his house was burnt along with his property. We continued as a church to pray for the family,” Johnson explained, adding that they church was later informed by some of abductees who escaped that the late pastor’s wife had died.

“The church was later told by some that escaped from Sambisa Forest that she was unable to escape when they did because she had an injury that could not make her to run. We were equally told that immediately they got to Sambisa Forest, she was separated from her three children,” he said, adding. “Some other people that escaped at a later date told us that the woman was now dead, that she died because of illness, that she was diabetic.”

While the church is doing everything it can to locate Taiwo’s missing children, Johnson said there were conflicting reports about their status.

“We were hearing different tales about the children, some said they are still with the insurgents, some said one of the children was killed by the insurgents and they dumped his corpse by the water bank. Up till now we are still not sure where the children might be, though the soldiers have rescued many children from Sambisa Forest, we have not been able to see those children,” he pointed out.