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BY INNOCENT OROK
The suspect
Wonders they say shall never end, especially in Nigeria where the love of money has blinded our human dignity.
Drama ensured in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital on Thursday as nemesis caught up with a popular street beggar Nzube Ekene who pretended to be blind and has been begging for years now.
The mother of two who often beg for money at the traffic light around the popular Fajuyi roundabout with a ten year old girl she trafficked was arrested through the intervention of the chairperson of the Association of Women Lawyers known as FIDA Mrs Seyi Ojo.
She usually dressed in tattered cloths with a hat (as can be seen in the pic) whenever she goes out for begging to cover up her face thus, deceiving members of the public that she is blind.
She usually seat on the floor, while the teenage girl goes around to beg for money from motorists and passengers who are held on by the traffic light.
Giving her account, the chairperson of FIDA, Mrs Seyi Ojo said she was in the queue of vehicles stopped by the traffic light when the girl approached her and begged for money a situation she said touched her heart deeply.
Mrs Ojo said on getting to the office, she ordered the invitation of the woman with hope of rendering possible assistance only to discover that she was a fake.
According to her, the woman was well dressed beneath, but only covered herself with the rags so as to attract sympathy.
Over eleven thousand naira was found on her as at eleven o’clock in the morning when she was arrested.
The little girl whom she was using to beg for money could not hide her feelings as she grabbed the FIDA chairperson in joy for rescuing her.
Narrating her ordeal the girl who gave her name as Ada said the woman came to her mother in Imo state and requested that she go with her to the Southwest so that she can assist her in her trading business. She also promised to enroll the girl in school which she never did.
Ada said she was surprised after getting to Ado Ekiti when the woman told her to be begging on her behalf.
According to Ada, she first insisted, but the woman beat and threaten her before she succumbed.
Ada claimed that she had begged the woman several times to allow her speak with her mother, but she resisted and even tore the book where she had earlier wrote the number of her mother.
Ada also complained that the woman was in the habit of maltreating her despite the fact that they make lots of money on daily basis.
Speaking the fake blind woman-beggar Nzube Ekene said she lives in Ikare Ondo State, but from Imo State.
She claimed that she was involved in the business to survive due to lack of job.
She confirmed that she lied to Ada’s mother about her job.
Ekene has been handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) for further interrogation.
