2009
About one hundred and sixty destitute northerners have been dumped on the outskirts of the Kaduna metropolis, allegedly by the Lagos State government, in its drive to free the state of the destitute and beggars, and who are mostly from the northern part of the country.
The destitute were secretly dumped on Thursday at around 7 pm at Abuja Junction, along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway, very close to the Federal Cooperative College, Kaduna. The group included men, women and children, mostly crippled, deaf, blind, lepers and others with serious disabilities.
This correspondent has it on good authority that they were evacuated by policemen of the state security outfit Operation Yaki, to the Kano Road resettlement camp of people living with disabilities at around 9 pm the same Thursday, while some of them have taken refuge in other parts of the metropolis.
At the camp, one of them, Sani Ahmadu, in company of other deportees told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that they were subjected to excruciating hardship before being taken to Kaduna where they were dumped. “The only thing we gathered was that Lagos State government wants to rid of the destitute, and they commissioned people with sticks, who arrested us and locked us in rooms with lunatics, children and women. We were about 13 in each room.”
He further said, “After forcing us into patrol vans, we were kept locked up for four days, They took away our money and property. They would give us food around 6pm then nothing more till 10 am the next day. They never took our health seriously. They just bundled us in vehicles and brought us to Kaduna. We are not from Kaduna. To us this is not fair, because we are Nigerians and we only went there for a while because of our poor condition, and we are suffering from different ailments.”
Another of the deportees, Hassan Ali, told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that it is the failure of leadership that made them leave for Lagos to seek a means of livelihood. “As you know, we are aged and cannot afford the basic things of life, but if we had responsible leadership in our region, we would not leave our houses to a strange land to beg just to survive.
“They dumped us here and we don’t have food and Ramadan is likely to begin tomorrow (Saturday).We are also begging that we should be taken to Kano State, because I am from Albasu local government area of Kano State. Some of our women and children have gotten lost in Kaduna.”
The Kaduna State commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr.Maryamu Laka Madami, confirmed the incident and stated that the state government is making arrangements to transport them to Kano and other states they are originally from, and that the government had taken steps to provide them with food and other essentials before the evacuation, for which, she said modalities have been put in motion.
On whether Kaduna State government will take action against the Lagos State government on the matter Madami, said, “First, we have to save lives and stabilise them, but I assure you we will certainly get in touch to correct some abnormalities. But I am reiterating that we have to solve the problem first and we are doing everything possible to take them to their states.”
The national vice president of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAP), Comrade Abdullahi Rilwan, decried the situation, describing the alleged action of the Lagos State government as worrisome, and a violation of the fundamental human rights of the affected as Nigerian citizens, to be deported within the territory of the country. He said, “It is because they are poor, deformed, or because of our disabilities. This also is a challenge to the 19 northern states’ governments and the Arewa Consultative Forum. We are also appealing for rights groups to intervene, because it is a clear violation of their rights and privileges as genuine Nigerians.”
The Sarkin Makafin Doka, Mallam Aliyu Yusuf, a blind man and leader in the camp, appealed for urgent attention for the deportees, saying they are in dire need of food and relief materials, considering that the camp cannot sufficiently accommodate all of them.
It would be recalled that the Kaduna State government, sometime earlier this year raised an alarm over the increasing presence of the destitute said to have been brought in to the state from the southern part of the country
Reacting, however, the Lagos State government denied that the destitute were maltreated in any way. Governor Fashola’s aide on youth, Mr. Badmus, speaking on the BBC Hausa radio service yesterday, said that the Lagos State government had written all the states concerned, adding that their eviction was in their own interest, considering the hazards they faced in Lagos.
No comments:
Post a Comment