Octogenarian turns to begging for survival, decries neglect

Mrs SAbitu Bakare

Culled  from PUNCH NEWSPAPER

An octogenarian says she turned to begging to protest against government’s neglect of the aged.

The woman, Mrs. Sabitu Bakare, 83, who hails from Ake in Abeokuta, Ogun State, also told Punch Metro that she deliberately chose to beg in Lagos State, where begging had been outlawed, so that she could be arrested and be made to face the law.

She added that she hoped to advise the state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, on how to take care of the elderly in the society and also pay good salaries to workers in the state.

Bakare is a mother of nine children, seven of whom had died.

According to the woman, had Fashola paid one of her two surviving children good salary, she (the child) would have taken care of her and she wouldn’t have been begging.

Sabitu, who sits in front of the headquarters of the Ikeja Local Government of the state to solicit money from passers-by, said her daughter, Rashidat, who worked with the government earned “only N9, 000 per month when the minimum wage is supposed to be N18, 000”.

While fighting back tears, Sabitu said, “I am begging here so they can carry me to Fashola. All these wicked people, I will tell the governor what is happening to us. I will advise him on how to take care of the elderly in the society. That is why I am in front of this council.”

“My daughter is not only poorly paid, but the salary comes in very late which puts the whole family in pain and poverty.”

Our correspondent reported that Bakare’s old age attracted sympathy to her as many of the passers-by gave her money.

The octogenarian, who said she usually stayed on the spot from Monday to Friday and rested on Saturday and Sunday, told PUNCH Metro that the money she made from begging was given to Rashidat, who took care of her.

However, Rashida, a 41-year-old mother of four children, told PUNCH Metro that she was a cleaner working for Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government, adding that she had been sacked.

She said, “I was told I had been working with a temporary appointment letter and that the council would no longer require my services. I don’t know why they just discovered that now and would want to end my hope.”

Rashida said her father was also a beggar and could be found around Falomo.

She said, “The family is helpless about this situation. There was a time we had to cough out N29,000 to bail the old woman (Bakare) when she was arrested by the state’s task force for begging.

“I have tried to stop mama from begging, but I used to collect N9,000 in a month and that is not even enough for my personal upkeep.”

Bakare’s only surviving son, Olayomi, 46, who claimed to be a prophet at Iju Ota, in Ogun State, said his pregnant wife and two children had abandoned him because he could not take care of them.

“I cannot help mama. My wife and children have run away from me. When my first born was to wed, I was stopped from attending and another man was used to replace me because they said I didn’t have money.”

The Lagos State Government had banned street begging and recently arrested some 39 people who were later jailed.