By Comfort Obi
You know them. The Almajiris. You see them everywhere. They are the down trodden. The dredge of the society. The poorest of the poor. The abandoned. The abused. The humiliated. The homeless. The illiterate. The street children. The used and dumped.
They litter the streets. Particularly in the Northern part of the country. They roam the streets in hundreds. In thousands. Kids! Their parents give birth to them. And just “throw” them away. They throw them into the streets.
From every part of the North, they criss-cross the States of the Federation, particularly within the Northern States. In some states in the South-east, for example, they are, in their scores, in front of supermarkets and, almost, mob one as soon as one steps out after a purchase.
The Northern elite are proud to tell you it is their culture. That it is part of their religion, part of their way of life. They tell you they send them to go and learn the Koran from Koranic teachers.
A number of such teachers, many allege, atimes, abuse them. They are dehumanized. They are starved. They are subjected to unbelievable corporal punishment. They are chained and flogged.
In the past months, Nigerians have watched, in shock, how the children, aged from three years, are packed like sardines in small-small rooms. No toilet facilities. No health facilities. They, atimes, steal to survive. When they die, they die. Nobody cares. When you intervene, you are declared an enemy.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan tried to help. He was declared an enemy. At least, two Governors, then, declared him an enemy of the North. And reported him even to the USA. They accused him of trying to destroy their culture. During the 2015 General elections, it counted against him.
The deposed Emir of Kano, Dr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was an ardent, bitter critic of that culture. It counted against him, just as a couple of other positive changes he wanted in the region did.
But the elite of the region know why they love this culture. The kids are their soldier ants. Their reserved army. Very useful when it matters most to them.
During General elections, they are their winning team. Their aces. Like sardines, they are packed to voting centres, or wherever, and they have them vote for their adopted candidate. They help them thumbprint. They win.
And they are happy.
In times of roots, particularly, over mundane issues, they come in handy. They are a ready army. Raw. They attack and kill without mercy. Atimes without motive. Just a proding, and they explode.
Now the chickens have come home to roost.
In the era of COVID-19, the Northern elite have seen the dangers there-in. At their meeting penultimate week, they decided to ban their beloved culture. And they decided to pack the Almajiris back to their various states. In the past many days, they have been packing them home from one state to the other.
Suddenly, they remember the kids could be sent back to their parents, and put in proper schools, where they can also learn about their religion.
Smart guys. The Governors want to cut costs. They fear the spread of Coronavirus through the Almajiris. Managing them is an expensive venture. It costs a lot of money.
They are right.
Many of the Almajiris so sent back to their various states have tested positive for the Virus. And, it is danger unlimited, not just for the North, but the whole of Nigeria.
Here is why.
The kids are used to street life. To begging to feed. To stealing to feed. To violence. To living dangerously. So, with conniving truck drivers, pretending to be transporting food to the Southern part of the country, the Almajiris are invading the South. They are helped by, without doubt, some unscrupulous security personnel. They are coming in their hundreds.
And nobody is testing them, or have tested them for COVID-19.
Many groups in the South are crying foul.
You cannot invade our region, they say. There may be something more sinister behind this move, they chorus. They gradually want to take over their region, they think. It is a well- laid plan, they emphasise. Otherwise, they ask, why are they taking all the risks to invade their region like locusts? What about COVID-19, they ask?
With the Presidential order closing inter-state borders, how come they are having a free ride, they wonder. This is an organised business and invasion, they scream.
So, a number of them are being intercepted and turned back from where they were coming from. It is like “Back to sender”.
But the main opposition party, the PDP, sees it differently. In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party accuses President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling APC, of abandoning the Almajiris.
Following, the PDP statement, entitled:
COVID-19: Buhari, APC Have Betrayed Almajiris, Poor Nigerians
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says President Muhammadu Buhari and his manipulative All Progressives Congress (APC) have completely betrayed the Almajiris and other downtrodden, poor and vulnerable Nigerians after using them to grab power in 2015.
“The party asserts that the APC and its government have continued to show their true colours especially as manifested in the neglect and dehumanizing treatment they have met out on poor and vulnerable Nigerians since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
“The PDP notes that APC’s disdain and desertion of our citizens had further exposed it as a deceitful party which used lies, propaganda and false promises to mislead the people in 2015 to denounce a system of governance which had their interest at heart and worked day and night to ensure a better life for them.
“Today, the APC and its government have succeeded in wrecking the lives of ordinary Nigerians; stole their common patrimony; rendered many homeless, turned their joy into sadness, hope into hopelessness, fortune into abject poverty; reneged on all their enticing promises, swindled and abandoned our citizens to a life of misery.
“From Katsina to Lagos, Kano to Edo, Kaduna to Osun, Yobe to Ekiti; Plateau to Kogi and all the places where the APC has left footprints at the federal and state levels, the downtrodden people have been exploited and now abandoned; treated by the APC as sub-humans in their own country.
“Today, the APC relishes in abusing and insulting Nigerian youths; from Kano to Lagos, they deny them access to economic opportunities and jobs, yet tag them as lazy. The APC deny our youths good education, health care, comfortable homes and access to basic necessities of life, yet demean them as outcasts and undesirable elements fit only for life on the streets and as tools to manipulate elections for corrupt APC leaders.
“The APC lied to a people who were already organizing their lives along the path of economic prosperity, development and national cohesion; they beguiled and misled them into believing that they were being led to Eldorado only to abandon them in the middle of the nowhere, stripped of honour and means of survival.
“The APC posed as the messiah; promised free houses, millions of jobs, monthly allowances and even to bring the value of dollar to one naira. President Buhari promised more prosperity and to rout out insurgency with the snap of the finger.
“Unfortunately, what we witness today are total reneging on these promises, degradation of citizens, hunger and starvation, intimidation of dissenting voices, untold corruption, neglect of our infrastructure, annexation of electoral and judicial system, violation of human rights, in addition to escalation of insurgency and bloodletting while the President, who promised to lead from the front, recedes very far into the luxury and safety of Aso Presidential villa.
“Nigerians can recall how the PDP championed the cause of the downtrodden, established Almajiri schools, the e-wallet initiatives for rural farmers, built new universities, revamped our economy, overhauled our health care system, established the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), revamped the mortgage system to give Nigerians access to own homes and expanded the political space to promote youth and women participation in governance among others.
“The APC has reversed all these gains. President Buhari and the APC cannot point to any people-oriented project they have executed to better the lot of the poor.
“In fact, this pandemic has further exposed the APC as a party without plans for Nigerians, which only came to grab power to enrich themselves at the expense of the ordinary Nigerians.
“The PDP however urges Nigerians not to despair but to rally among themselves, help each other and ensure that a party like APC, which has become an emblem of misfortune, does not come to power at any level after the end of this tenure.
“On our own part, the PDP as a party, will continue to stand with Nigerians, especially the downtrodden and remain committed to protecting their interests at all times.”
