‘They’re spending our money anyhow while we eat from the dunghill’

He was in the scorching sun cheerfully stretching out his hands to passersby for alms when our correspondent accosted him.

Balancing on a rickety wheelchair in front of a store beside the popular Warri/Sapele Road, Hausa Quarters axis, Warri, Delta State, Muhammed Sanu’s invalid condition did not conceal the broad smile on his face. His vivacious mood betrayed a total surrender to fate amid the harsh reality of his existence.

He speaks on his sojourn from the cradle:  “My name is Muhammed Sanu. I am 48 years old. I am not that old, suffering, hardship and the scorching sun is what is making me look older.

“I am from Fagge Local Government Area of Kano State. I came to Warri two years ago to see if I can survive by begging for alms.

“Before I came to Warri, I was washing calves to survive. I was being paid N100 for each calf I washed.

“So, some days I went home with N2,000 or N1,500. I had to come here so that my wife could take over.

“I wasn’t born like this. I had legs, but I couldn’t walk with them. One fateful day, I was working on the farm when I suddenly fell down and couldn’t get up because my legs refused to carry me.

“I was carried home that day. I tried all types of Hausa medicine, but none worked. I couldn’t go to the hospital because there was no money for treatment.

“I am an orphan without siblings. When that incident happened, I decided to look for other things to do to survive instead of farming.

“So, I started selling kolanuts and sachet water under a shed. It was from that business that I was doing that I met and married my wife.

“We have four children now. So, I had to come down to Warri to beg for alms to assist my family.

“I visit my family every first month of the year and come back after every three months to continue begging.

“Sometimes, I make up to N2000 to N3000. From that money, I will eat and save some to send to my wife and children in Kano.

“Sometimes, the wife of the owner of this shop I am sitting beside gives me food.”

Sanu would not want to hear about the ‘punitive’ economic policies of the Federal Government that have further impoverished the poorest of the poor in the country.

“Nothing concerns me about government. Do they care about the people? Can’t you see the hunger in the land?

“We hear in the news that they are buying a new jet for themselves; they’re spending our money anyhow while we eat from the dunghill.

“What I’m after is how to see money to eat and feed my hungry children and wife.

“Two of my children are in primary school and two have not started school because of lack of money,” he lamented.

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