About 70 beggars and the homeless were on Wednesday dumped at the
Upper Iweka Bridge, Onitsha, Anambra State.It is believed that they were
dumped by agents of the Lagos State Government.The destitute, who spoke
to journalists on Wednesday, said they were escorted to Onitsha and
dumped at Upper Iweka by 3am.According to their account, they had
earlier been detained in Ikorodu, Lagos, for over six months for alleged
wandering and other minor offences by the Lagos State Kick Against
Indiscipline officials.They were brought to Onitsha in four buses under
watch by riot policemen.One of them, Mr. Osondu Mbuto, from Ohaozara in
Ebonyi State and a petty trader in Lagos, said he was arrested by the
Lagos State Government officials while going to his shop on December 18,
2012.Mbuto added that the Lagos State Government officials were in
company with some policemen.The Chairman of Nigeria Red Cross Society in
the South-East, Dr. Peter Katchy, described the action of the Lagos
State officials as condemnable.He said, 'It's very deplorable; it's very
disheartening that a state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria will
bundle people, who are not even indigenes of Anambra State, and dump
them under the flyover at Upper Iweka in Onitsha.'Many of the people, we
have interviewed are not indigenes of Anambra State. Some of them are
from Ebonyi State; some are from Imo State among other states.'It is an
insult to Anambra State. We shall draw the attention of the governor of
Anambra State to ask the reason for such an invasion of his
territory.'We will find out why Lagos State should invade Anambra State
territory; and why Lagos State should dump people here and leave them
helpless.'We are here on humanitarian purposes and in response to an
emergency. From what we discovered here, this is a human emergency and a
human callousness.'Katchy, however, promised that the society would
move the destitute to the Anambra State Social Welfare Centre in Onitsha
South Local Government for rehabilitation.The Lagos State Government
had dumped another set of beggars at Upper Iweka late last year.Calls
made to the mobile phone of the Lagos State Commissioner for
Information, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, for his reaction, did not go
through.He also did not respond to a text message sent to him by one of
our correspondents.
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