"My first child, Adeola, has been missing. I've been looking for her for the past four years. Any small amount of money I made from working was spent on searching for her."
Actress Jumoke George's daughter, Adeola, who went missing for four years, has returned to Nigeria.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the mother of two was found in Mali and rescued by the Nigerian government following a public outcry from her mother regarding her disappearance.
Actress Biola Adebayo, host of the 'Talk To B' podcast, where George revealed that she had not seen her daughter in six years, noted that Adeola left Nigeria in search of greener pastures.
In a statement posted via her X page on Monday, the Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, confirmed Adeola's return.
Ms Dabiri-Erewa stated that she received Adeola, who had been trafficked to Mali, alongside Biola Adebayo and actor Niyi Johnson.
She wrote, "Adeola, daughter of popular actress, Jumoke George, who cried out that she had not heard from her daughter in four years, is back home, from Mali, where she was trafficked to.
"Just received her, with Biola Adebayo who broke the story and Niyi Johnson."
As of press time, there was no confirmation that Adeola had been reunited with her mother, nor had she granted any interview.
Meanwhile, Ms Dabiri-Erewa pledged to provide further information as the situation developed.
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Backstory
During an interview with Adebayo, the actess revealed that her daughter, who had been living with her mother in Ibadan, had gone missing.
The actress added that she had been spending money on efforts to find her.
She said, "My first child, Adeola, has been missing. I've been looking for her for the past four years. Any small amount of money I made from working was spent on searching for her. She was in Ibadan, where she lived and worked with my mother. Then, one day, my mother called to say she hadn't seen Deola, who had told her she was coming to meet me in Lagos. I told her I hadn't seen her either.
"Then, one day, Deola called me from an unfamiliar number. I had no idea where she was calling from. She said I should forgive her. When I asked where she was, she only said I should forgive her, saying she didn't know where her journey would lead. She told me that some friends had convinced her to travel to a certain country--she didn't say which one was searching for greener pastures, but when they arrived, the situation turned out to be completely different."
The actress revealed that she had been solely responsible for caring for Adeola's children, stating that she had not seen their father since the couple separated when the children were much younger.
Following public outcry, Adeola was eventually located in Mali, where she was found working.
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