By Kangmwa Gofwen
Blind Hausa beggars in Oyo State are lamenting that the harsh economic realities in the country are making fasting in this year’s lunar month of Ramadan very difficult for them.
They say compared to previous years, fewer people are bringing alms to them.
Speaking under the aegis of the Blind Hausa People’s Association of Oyo State, the beggars said that despite their situaion, they were happy that the state governor, Mr Seyi Makinde got re-elected.
The youth leader of the association, Inusa Ibrahim, said they got more support during the previous Ramadan period as compared to this time. He said right now they were just managing what they had as they looked up to God.
“In previous years, by now more than 15 people must have come here with different kinds of raw foods to assist us through the Ramadan period but this time, only two people came around with cooked foods and that was what we managed to break our fast with after we prayed, we are prayerfully waiting to see what God will do for us,” Inusa said.
Ibrahim said they are finding it this difficult because they do not go out to beg for alms, they just depend on what people bring to them.
“You know we do not go out to beg, we just rely on the assistance that people bring to us here. Like I said, we understand that the times are hard especially with this cashless policy but a lot of people are better than us,” the chairman said.
“We thank God that the elections are over, we went out and cast our votes in great numbers and the one that God deemed fit emerged as winner. We are happy and we want to congratulate Governor Seyi Makinde on his re-election. We are happy that he is the one that God picked for us.
“We pray to God for wisdom to lead well and to deliver this mandate God and the people place on him. We also pray that he’d remember us while we will continue to pray for good health for him always,” he said.
“Our Hausa leaders are not supporting us, they’re not together with us and they will not deliver our message and that is why we need the media and we are grateful that we can access the media and also send our congratulations to the governor.”
The chairman also said they are happy that Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged winner of the presidential election because they went all out with their wives and children to vote for him and they are glad their votes counted.
“We are very happy that Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the president elect, we all went out with our wives and children to vote for him during the presidential and national assembly elections. We are really delighted that our votes counted and he emerged victorious, we did just as they told us, we voted Tinubu for president and Seyi Makinde as governor.
“We also want to plead with the president elect that when he is sworn in as president he shouldn’t forget people like us in his government. We will be praying for both the governor and president to succeed because this place has become our home, some of us have been here for over 40 years, 30 years and so on so if this government succeeds we are sure they will not forget us.”
He said because of how long some of them have been in the state, they felt the impact of the Oyo State government than the state they came from.
“We feel the impact of the Oyo State governor compared to that of Kano, since this our home, he is our governor and we are always praying for him to succeed,” he said.
Meanwhile, they prayed that Allah will grant the nation peace during this Holy month of Ramadan while they called on good spirited individuals for support during the holy month.
“As we enter the holy month of Ramadan, we pray that may Almighty Allah accept our prayers and grant our nation peace and also grant our leaders wisdom to always do what is right. As you know, Ramadan avails the opportunity for people help the poor, we understand the hardship at the moment but the truth is a lot of people are better than us, so we are begging people of good will to help assist us particularly this period,” he said.
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