Nigerian Couple Abandon Twin Kids In The US

Couple say the twins were left in the care of their uncle, Giobari Atura

A Nigerian couple was questioned after it was revealed that they abandoned their 9-year-old twins in their apartment in United States during a trip back home.

Jerusalem and Gladys Monday, left the boy twins mostly to themselves in their New Hampshire apartment for four months and took their other three children with them to Nigeria.

Police started looking into the case in November when the boys' school notified the State Division of Children, Youth and Families that the twins had been living on their own for months.

The kids were getting themselves up and on the bus, then eating breakfast and lunch at school. The boys were taken into protective custody and then placed into foster care.

Police authorities say the couple left the twins in the care of an uncle who also abandoned them.  The uncle 25-year-old Giobari Atura promised the kids that he would be checking on them regularly to drop food but when police came to the house in November 2014, they found no edible food in the refrigerator and only ramen noodles in a cabinet.

Giobari Atura, 25, was hit with a one count charge of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. He was freed on $500 bail.

The Nigerian couple left for Nigeria in July and was scheduled to return in August but told police that they were delayed by illness and passport problems.

Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Michael Valentine said the parents returned to United States shortly after they learned the boys were being left alone.

They had instructed Giobari Atura who is the younger brother of Jeremiah to stay in the apartment to help take care of the boys. They said Giobari always assured them that all was well when they called him from Nigeria.

Michael Valentine said the parents won't be charged and have been reunited with their children.