This was in March this year
http://dailyindependentnig.com/2013/03/anambra-goes-tough-on-beggars/

WHY THE HYPOCRISY?

.

THROWBACK: Anambra Govt arrests, repatriates beggars to Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi
Sani Tukur
Published:August 4,2013

Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi

The Anambra State government is currently battling its Lagos state counterpart for repatriating destitute people arrested on the streets of Lagos to their home state of Anambra.

Anambra state Governor, Peter Obi, has indeed fired a strongly worded letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, describing the relocation of destitute people from his state as “illegal, unconstitutional, and a blatant violation of the human rights” of the “deportees”.

But checks by PREMIUM TIMES indicate that the Anambra state government had in the past arrested beggars on the streets of Awka and swiftly repatriated them to their home states of Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom.

Below are two reports of the arrests and “deportation” as captured by two Nigerian newspapers at the time.

Anambra Orders Arrest Of Child Beggars

Leadership, December 4, 2011

DAVID-CHYDDY ELEKE

The Anambra state government has issued a warning to all street beggars, especially children used by their parents to beg for alms, to vacate the streets or be arrested.

29 of such women who displayed their children as strategy for getting alms have already been arrested in Awka and Onitsha, and repatriated to their home states; Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom states.

The state commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr. Ego Cordelia Uzoezie, disclosed Friday in Awka when a middle-aged woman was arrested for begging with nine children at various points in Awka.

Uzoezie said her attention was drawn to the spectacle when one of the children who begged at the Unizik junction, Awka, six-year-old Goodnews Sunday, was hit in the jaw by an Okada rider, while he begged.

Uzoezie decried the attitude of some parents who used their children to beg for alms, and warned that after 72 hours any beggar seen in the state would be arrested by the law enforcement agents and the special task force of the ministry of women affairs and social development.

Anambra Govt Orders The Arrest Of Beggars With Children, 29 Arrested So Far

CHAMPION, DEC 4, 2011

By Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Awka

In its determined efforts to rid the state environment of beggars daily increasing in their numbers, the Anambra state government has issued an ultimatum to all the street beggars especially those using children to beg in Anambra state to vacate the streets or face arrest within 72 hours.

Meanwhile over 29 beggars with children have been arrested in Awka and Onitsha , warned and repatriated back to their various states of origin mostly Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom states to mention but a few.

Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development , Dr Ego Cordelia Uzoezie disclosed Friday in Awka when a middle aged woman was arrested begging with 9 children at various points in Awka.

The attention of Dr Uzoezie was drawn to the beggar with children when one of the kids begging at Unizik junction Awka , 6 years old Goodnews Sunday was hit while begging by an Okada operator injuring her jaw.

She was later taken to Beacon Hospital Awka after two hospitals turned her down when good Samaritans rushed her to hospital for first aid. Reasons for her rejection are yet to be ascertained as at press time.

Uzoezie decried the attitude of some parents who indulge in using children to beg, warning that after 72 hours any beggar seen in the state would be arrested by the law enforcement agents and the special task force of the ministry of women affairs and social development.

The accident victim Goodnews said she came from Akwa-Ibom Oron in Akwa-Ibom state and is staying with her mother at Isu-Aniocha but her twelve years old Sister , Blessing Sunday not only concurred the story of her sister but admitted that her mother actually sent them to go for the begging and that they used to be students of Anointed Nursery/Primary school Awada Obosi until they were pushed into begging following taunts on their mother who use to hawk curry and garri at Onitsha by one Happiness from Calabar.

Blessing further informed that the accident victim is a twin and that their parents now do nothing but to depend on what they were able to get from the begging. She said they would use it to pay for their school fees and house rent and equally build a house. She however contradicted herself when she later said she and her sister were being enslaved by one, Happiness who was already repatriated but came back to Anambra.

The other woman with 5 children, Mrs Nwakaego Eze from Amafor Uli, in Ihiala local government of Anambra state married to Arochukwu in Abia state blamed her begging now on week days to the dislocation of her husband and others from the Army barracks Onitsha as their begging before now was only on weekends.

She said although they have a house at No 2 Igbamaeze Street Awada Obosi , she equally rented a house at Isu-Aniocha to enable them sleep after begging in Awka. She said her children were not begging with her before as they were students of Basic Foundation but since after the Army Barracks dislocation they have joined her in begging, She further said they are now going to Anointed Nursery/Primary School Awada Obosi. She promised not to use the children for begging again, if allowed to walk home free.

But the Director Child Development , Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development , Mr Emeka Ejide warned the beggars to leave their children alone and can beg if they choose to as the interest of the ministry and Anambra state government are on the children. He said the Ministry has repatriated more than 29 women begging with children to their various states and would not hesitate to deal with parents who still engage in such acts describing them as products of Mammy market Onitsha where anything goes before its closure.

One of the good Samaritans who rushed the victim to hospital Mrs Stella Samuel incidentally an indigene of Akawa Ibom wondered why people from Akwa Ibom state must still be begging in Anambra state when the Governor of Akwa Ibom, Governor Godswill Akpabio had declared free education for children of the state. She said the accident happened in front of her shop and she had to run around to save the life of the girl but was shocked that no hospital wanted to accept her until later when the Ministry took custody of her and others.

But the President General of Akwa-Ibom Central Union, Anambra state , Sir Chris Ekanem who not only admitted that the victim and some of the beggars came from Akwa-Ibom but requested for authority for them to repatriate them home since their Governor Akpabio has given free education to people like them.

He appealed that those who brought them to Anambra only to subject them to begging should be punished adding that they had reported to the police the incident. He revealed that the children told him in their dialect that they were many in the state from the same Akwa Ibom doing the same business of begging in Anambra state.

The All Progressives Congress says the “sensationalisation” of the recent “home return” of 14 persons from Lagos State by Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State can threaten the nation’s unity.

The party, in a statement on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, said Obi’s action was dangerous.

The APC said instead of reaching out to his Lagos State counterpart, as he had done on less important issues in the past, Obi wrote an “over-dramatised letter” to the Presidency and leaked it to the media.

According to the party, Obi, by his action, has set off an avoidable friction between the Igbo and the Yoruba.

The APC added that Obi by the approach, wanted to gain an undue advantage ahead of the forthcoming Anambra governorship election.

The APC stated, “We are not saying Governor Obi has no right to play politics, but he must fight clean and avoid any action that could hurt, not just the enduring harmony between the Igbo and the Yoruba, but also the unity of the country.

“Resorting to primordial sentiments, anytime election is approaching, is Governor Obi’s modus operandi. He did it just before the 2009 election, when he labelled the ACN, under which Dr. Chris Ngige contested, as a Yoruba party, and he is going down the same path now. This is all about the November 2013 election.

“If Governor Obi is sure of his performance, he should allow that to speak for him and stop whipping up tribal sentiments. It is very dishonourable for a political leader, at the level of Obi, to show total disregard for the truth and to whip up emotions for personal gains,as he has done on this issue. By his deliberate and blatant distortion of facts, as we will show shortly, Obi has raised a serious doubt about his leadership qualities.”

The party also accused some non-governmental organisations of “indiscretion and deliberate peddling of falsehood.”

The party said, “Even some of the respectable Igbo socio-political organisations failed the simple test of fairness by not checking the truth before making pronouncements.

“Even if they do not trust the Lagos State Government, they could have, at least, inquired about what happened from their son, who is a ranking member of the cabinet of Lagos State.”

The party added, “All those, who consider the home return of 14 Anambra indigenes as a reflection of the Lagos State Government’s (and by extension the Yoruba) ill-will toward the Igbo, should consider the following facts.

“There was an exchange of correspondence dated April 9, 15 and 29 2013 between the Lagos State Government and Anambra State Government, through its Liaison Office in Lagos, about the ‘integration’ not ‘deportation’ of the 14 people.

“Anambra State Government did not respond to requests by Lagos State to come and validate/identify the people, who claimed to have come from Anambra. Had it done so, this issue could have been better managed.

“Lagos State itself received notice from the Government of Akwa Ibom to come, identify and pick up two Lagos indigenes that they picked up in a ‘lunatic clean up’ exercise in Uyo. Lagos responded promptly without making any noise about it.

“In December, 2011, the same Anambra State Government, that is now crying foul over the home return of Anambra indigenes, arrested and repatriated 29 beggars to their home states in Ebonyi, another Igbo State, and Akwa Ibom.

“Then, it was conveniently not ‘deportation’ but ‘repatriation’ and no tribal meanings were read to such action.”

The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, said he would discuss with his principal before reacting to the APC statement.

He promised to call back as soon as he got the governor’s nod. He had yet to call back as of the time of filing this report at 10pm.

Will u stop wasting ur time on these hypocrites?

Here we go. God forbid a Peter Obi presidency.


Never!

Obi should just forget about anything Nigerian presidency.....

abikubu:

So Mr Obi started the fire on the mountain? So why this big crocodile tears against Lagos State?

😂 😂 😂

Good, obi will deport all the Chinese,Lebanese and Nigeria republicans that are staying in Nigeria illegally

Obi is a cunning man

.

It is still here koro koro. Obi today is criticizing the LASG for doing same

Okoro

Obi is the greatest definition of hypocrisy

Thank goodness for internet, by now igbos would have been telling us a very different story

Sharpsharp00123:
Obi is the greatest definition of hypocrisy

Thank goodness for internet, by now igbos would have been telling us a very different story

Funny how there's proof of every single thing he accuses the government of.

donbrowser:


Funny how there's proof of every single thing he accuses the government of.

God bless u

He’s just a typical igbo, accuse others of d same thing u are guilty of

He even ordered northerners living in Anambra to wear tags.

gtown:
He even ordered northerners living in Anambra to wear tags.

Malroux, bobloco, Goodday90, gidgiddy

This is your obi claiming messiah ooo

Hmmm

Sharpsharp00123:
Malroux, bobloco, Goodday90, gidgiddy

This is your obi claiming messiah ooo

Joblessness at its peak

Who are the Ebonyi,akwa ibomdeported,what are their names

Goodday90:
Joblessness at its peak

Who are the Ebonyi,akwa ibomdeported,what are their names

so all media outlets lied against obi?

Sharpsharp00123:
so all media outlets lied against obi?

Atleast camera phone existed in 2013,I expect a video or picture,not them say them say by Lagos Ibadan media crew

Goodday90:
Atleast camera phone existed in 2013,I expect a video or picture,not them say them say by Lagos Ibadan media crew

Goodday90:
Atleast camera phone existed in 2013,I expect a video or picture,not them say them say by Lagos Ibadan media crew

but u don’t believe all these reports right?

Sharpsharp00123:
but u don’t believe all these reports right?

You see the one Lagos deported Osunuians,we saw the video and pictures

Goodday90:

You see the one Lagos deported Osunuians,we saw the video and pictures

Good oya show us the picture of 1 school Peter Obi built

donbrowser:


Good oya show us the picture of 1 school Peter Obi built

tell me your state of origin
Lets do a comparison and see how your state fare better than Anambra in Education

Goodday90:
tell me your state of origin
Lets do a comparison and see how your state fare better than Anambra in Education

My state is far worse than Anambra, infact it's the worst state in Nigeria. Now please show a picture or video of one school that Peter Obi built.

Don't worry Reno is coming for him