Abubakar Garba was the leader of beggars begging around Mokola roundabout in Ibadan, Oyo State. However, challenges that come with being a leader became overwhelming for him, he decided to withdraw from the position.
He told Saturday Tribune that “when lack affects you so much, you attract more problems for yourself unknowingly.” Though a beggar himself, he said he felt pity for some of his colleagueas a result of some fines that were put in place to maintain orderliness within them.
He said most of them are begging because they no longer have villages as a result of the activities of bandits in their communities.
“I was the leader of the beggars here but not anymore. Before I accepted to lead, I asked them to chase away touts that were disturbing us which they did at that time.Then, I took the leadership of beggars at the Mokola roundabout. But you know when lack affects you so much; you attract more problems for yourself unknowingly.
“Sometimes, they just say some things that rob them at the end of the day. The problems became too much for me especially from the women so I told the late Sarki that I was growing old and couldn’t keep taking these problems.
“So, they said I should just try to maintain orderliness here, that whenever people brought us alms and anyone rushed to get it the person would pay a fine of N1,000. I always had five to eight defaulters and I would take them and they would collect that amount from them.
“I felt it was too much on them, what have they got that they were paying so much as fines like that? They could barely feed themselves then paying fines again, so I withdrew myselfI also felt pity for some of us.
“Some had been chased out of their communities. No succor for them anymore. For some, if you hear the circumstances that led them into begging, you’d feel pity for them. So, I looked at those issues and decided to step down from being the leader and just mind my business,” he said.
He lamented that everything had changed and things were not as before again. He said even when he moved around to beg, it became difficult to make as much as he used to.
Garba said while they struggled with touts at the roundabout who would forcefully collect alms given to them by people of good will, he pays his bills from the little he made from moving around to beg.
“You see everything has changed now. What we get now cannot be compared to the past, they are not same at all. Everything has gone bad everywhere. Even I when I move around, I see people sleeping. Back then, I could make up to N3,000 and feed my family from that, pay my rent and light bills all in what I made then.
“Now, I don’t make up to a N1,000 in a day anymore and that is when I move around because here whenever people give us a large amount, it only become ours when the touts here did not see when it was given to us. When they see it, we would have to split it with them. If it is N1,000 they’d take N500 and when it is less, they’d take N200 and that is with me that is a little bit strong .
“But when it is the older men or women, they would forcefully collect everything from them. They feed off what we made from begging. Some of us here do not have villages again, bandits have killed everyone. They just barely escaped to start begging here but now everything is being collected forcefully. No peace anywhere, not at home and not here; the only difference here is that one could be lucky to hide some of the alms from the touts and get something,” Garba lamented.
Though they’ve had down times, he said they always had food to eat even if it meant to buy the food that was meant for them from the touts who would forcefully collect the food item from the person giving it as alms.
“The good thing here is that we get food to eat most times but not money because it would be collected from us. Sometimes, they even forcefully collect the food from the person that brought it and sell to us. Depending on the quantity of meat in the food, a plate can go as high as N300 and as low as N50 without meat.
“Most times we do not have a choice because we have children and we must feed so we just buy it from them. So we are just in the hands of God because we can’t report them to anyone,” he told Saturday Tribune.
Garba, who is begging alongside his wives, said he couldn’t leave his family at home because there was no food to feed them with, adding that they found food, shelter and clothing and peace of mind in Ibadan.
“I am here with my family; if I take them back home who would I leave them with? No food to feed them with. Is batter here. We can eat and drink and have a roof over our heads and have peace of mind.
“I have two wives; I came here with one and married the second one here. The second woman said she wanted to get married so I said I can marry another wife because our religion permits it but I do not have money. I asked if I could just pay her bride price and we get married and she agreed. So I paid her bride price and they got us married,” he revealed.
Garba said he desired for his son to be educated but he could not afford to enroll him in a school in Ibadan because of its high cost.
He added that begging is not what he liked to do. He said he was planning to go back home to farming together with his family.
“I have a son and I wished he could go to school but school fees here are very expensive and I can’t afford it. I am honestly praying to God to help me so I can stop begging and go back to the north with my family and start farming.
“Begging is not something I like to do. I don’t know about others but not me. My pride would be to go back to the north, anywhere and settle into farming and rearing livestock together with my family.
“I plan to go back to the north in the next raining season with my family to farm. It would be difficult, but I would endure and by the next farming season, it would be easier by then. I just want to have food to feed my family that’s all,” he said.
Though not the leader anymore, Garba always ensures the begging environment is neat. He sweeps the surrounding area by himself or delegates his wife to do it.
“One of the things I do here is to ensure the environment is very clean. I sweep it myself. I also give instructions to everyone to dispose of their dirt in a bag I keep because it is not good to be dirty or live in a dirty environment.
“If we leave the dirt here to accumulate, even you can’t pass here. So I sweep it myself or I tell my wife. If others do it, they’d tax all of us N50 each and they would not even lend us their broom to sweep because we are beggars. So, when I move round to beg and I see a broom just lying I’d pick it and bring to my wife to keep so we can have this place cleaned,” he said.
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