As the 2023 general elections draw near, all Nigerians of voting age are gearing up to exercise their franchise again. KANGMWA GOFWEN spoke to a section of northern Nigerians who are living as beggars in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on the extent of their participation in the electoral process.
IF we had good leaders, we would not be out here on the streets begging. It is not our choice to be out here, under this harsh condition, but we can change the course of our lives by registering to vote and choosing leaders that will improve our living condition.”
Those were the words of Aisha Gambo, a leader of beggars on the Ojoo bridge in Ibadan. She said she and many other beggars would not hesitate to take advantage of the continuous voter registration exercise of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a means to better their lives.
According to her, she, like many other beggars, is not willing to leave Ibadan for anywhere else for the purpose of exercising her franchise because her livelihood is in the city.
“We want to vote here in Ibadan because we came here to fend for our ourselves and children. We do not have any source of income back in the North so we can’t go back,” Gambo stated.
She appealed to the concerned authorities to treat beggars who are willing as eligible Nigerians and allow them to register as voters.
“If the authorities allow us to register here in Ibadan, we can assure them we will comport ourselves and vote for the popular candidates, people who will impact our lives positively, in the forthcoming elections.”
She said for those among them that came with their voter cards from the North, they were not even entertaining the idea of going back there to vote because Ibadan was now their home.
Another Northerner, AdoSule, is a seasonal beggar. He goes back to the North during the rainy season and only returns to beg in Ibadan after the rains are over. He said he lost his voter card two years ago but if he was allowed to register and obtain a new one in Ibadan, he would participatein the coming general elections.
“If they allow me to register here, fine. If they don’t, I am hopeful that if I travel home for the farming season, I will register and when the elections come, I will go back home and vote.”
Binta Ibrahim is another beggar from the North who plies her ‘trade’ in Mokola. According to her, although she has lost her voter card, she is well aware of her civic duty to the country through voting. “I have lost my voter card. I think it got mixed up in my things. I can’t find it,” she said. However, she, her husband and children are registered voters in Jigawa State where they hail from. She said: “We go back home to vote. We often travel home for the elections. Our older children back home always insist that we return home for the elections. Once the elections are over, we return to Ibadan.”
Abubakar Garba, from Gezawa in Kano State, appears to be more politically aware than his colleagues. He, however, said he was discouraged by an ugly experience he had in his attempts to participate in one of the recent elections in Ibadan. He had left his hometown after his wife died seven days after his father’s demise.
He said: “My wife died on the eighth day of my father’s death. The strange occurrence caused people to desert me after tagging my house a ‘house of death’.
“I have no business except farming. I need money to profitably engage in farming and I have children to cater for, so I decided to come to the South West to start begging and see whether God would help me and I allow me to make a living through that.”
But before Garba set out for the South, he married another wife and when he got to Ibadan, he married yet another woman. He and his wives are into begging.
On his bad voting experience, he said during the last general elections, he went to one of the polling units in Mokola to exercise his civil right but he was attacked chased away by some people without being offered an explanation.
He said: “I went there with my voter card but I was attacked by a young boy. I decided not to put up resistance, and left the place to avoid further embarrassment. After all, voting is not a do-or-die affair; I just wanted to perform my duty as a bona fide Nigerian.
“I was treated like a lunatic. I am a human being like them. We may belong to different tribes but it is not right to disrespect a member of another tribe. It is just like religion, you have yours and I have mine. We are supposed to respect one another.”
But the opposition to Garba’s attempt to vote at the said polling unit actually stemmed from the invalidity of his voter card, having registered for and obtaining it in Kano. After it became clear to him what the problem was, he told Saturday Tribune that if he had the opportunity to have his voter card revalidated for use in Ibadan, he would seize it.
“I will seek a revalidation or register again. I am doing this because my life is also involved. I need to participate and vote for my choice candidates,” he added.
Asked if he would allow his wives to also participate in the electoral process, he said it was their right and he would not stand in their way. He said: “It is their right. The elections affect my life the same way they also affect theirs. There are so many things that I want in life and this is one of the ways to achieve some of them and better the lives of my wives and children. So, I would allow them register. They have my full support.”
One of his wives, Aisha, said she had a voter card but would love to travel back to the North to participate in the elections. “I registered back home and we will go back when the elections come,” she said. Garba’s other wife was unavailable for comment as of the time of this report.
Another beggar in Ojoo, Aisha Ibrahim, said: “I don’t have the voter card. I plan on registering for one here in Ibadan because I can’t go back to the North.”
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