REBECCA AJANI
NO fewer than 250 beggars in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday, protested what they described as low patronage over allegations that ritualists were buying money from them for fetish purposes.
The beggars said the rumour had made people to stop patronising them and had led to hatred for their members.
Spokesperson for the destitutes, Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, Serikin Hausawa of Hausawa Community, Oja’ba, Ibadan, disclosed this.
He pleaded with members of the public not to punish them for an offence they did not commit.
“The reports that some wealthy people are buying money from beggars, including the physically-challenged people, for money rituals is not true. As a result of the claim that some ritualists buy money from these beggars, there has been public resentment against these innocent people,” he said.
“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,” he added.
