Kaduna beggars dare El-Rufai, vow to fight ban

Kaduna beggars have vowed to remain on the streets practising their trade, daring Governor Nasir El-Rufai to arrest them if he could.

Governor El-Rufai had announced a ban on begging and street hawking following security breaches in the state.

But the physically challenged persons in the state, banding as Northern Blind Forum said the governor was putting the cart before the horse, asking him to address first of all, the socio-economic conditions that drove them into the streets.

Spokesperson of the group, Muntari Saleh, told journalists in Kaduna that their members rejected their being suspected as security risks and that they are mulling taking the governor to court for defamation of character.

Saleh asked the government to give them jobs first before driving them out of the streets, insisting that they have the constitutional right to stay wherever they wished until their demands were met.

The beggars, who came in large numbers to the NUJ secretariat in the city, comprised the blind, deaf, dumb, lepers, and people with sundry disabilities.