Harsh Economy: Beggars protest over low patronage in Ibadan

By Onos Etabunor,

No fewer than 250 beggars today (Thursday), stormed major streets in Ibadan, Oyo State protesting low patronage by members of the public following a recent report alleging that some rich men usually ‘buy’ money from them for ritual purposes.

The spokesperson for the destitute, Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, Serikin Hausawa of Hausawa Community, Oja’ba, Ibadan, stated that the report has created deep hatred for his people, hence people stop patronizing them lately.

According to Abdullahi; “The reports that some wealthy people are buying money from beggars, including the physically-challenged people, for money rituals is not true.

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“As a result of the claim that some ritualists do buy money from these beggars, there has been public resentment against these innocent people.

“What we know is that traders, hawkers and commercial drivers do come to these beggars who are mainly blind and lame people, to change money (get smaller denominations).

“We need to clear our names so that people will not be punishing us for offences we don’t know anything about,” he added.

Advocate gathered that following the low patronage, the livelihood of the beggars has taken a turn for the worse; hence they took to protest to draw the attention of the public to their plight.

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