Having woken up from their slumber regarding the new trend of smuggling hundreds of jobless northern youths and almajiri (street beggers) to states outside the northern part of Nigeria, the police authorities in Kwara State on Saturday captured about 200 youths suspected to be almajiri from Katsina State attempting to travel through the state to Lagos. Katsina State is the state of Nigeria’s incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari.
The almajiri and other northern youths were caught in a truck with registration number Kaduna MKA 54 XL at Kanbi/Oloru in the Moro Local Government Area of the state as confirmed by the spokesman for the police in the state, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi. He said the youths claimed that they took off from Funtua in Katsina State and were heading to Lagos.
Okasanmi said, “The Kwara State Police Command, acting on intelligence, intercepted a lorry with registration number Kaduna MKA 54 XL driven by one Shehu Hashim of Manigi in Niger State conveying about 200 suspected almajiri at Kanbi/Oloru area of the Bode Sadu-Okoolowo Expressway. On interrogation, they were said be coming from Funtua in Katsina State.”
He said the state Commissioner of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, ordered the return of the youths to Katsina. “On the instructions of the CP, the lorry and the 200 almajirai were escorted by fully armed policemen to the border of Niger and Kwara State from where they will return to Katsina State they claimed they came from.” He however appealed to the public, especially those leaving in border areas to always volunteer information on vehicles plying illegal routes.
For years, Nigerians have been calling on the northern leadership about the dangers of giving birth to many children and leaving them on the street to fend for themselves through begging but because the north make use of this kids to rave up election numbers, they have continued to claim it was an Islamic religious cultural practice up until the coming of COVID-19. However, in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are also Islamic countries, this ancient culture, which promotes irresponsible parenting is never part of their religious practice.
