Alawuje calls on Political Leaders, Northerners in Particular to join Tinubu to address the street children phenomenon
Following recent reports indicating that Nigeria ranks tops in the number of street children in the world, the National Coordinator of a foremost President Bola Ahmed support group, the Disciples of Jagaban (DOJ), Comrade Abdulhakeem Adegoke Alawuje has called on political leaders in the North to support the present administration towards addressing the malice.
Alawuje made the call in a statement issued to journalists on Thursday.
According to him, addressing the issue of street children would have a positive effect on the fight against terrorism, banditry and other forms of criminality because, with proper education and integration into society, perpetrators of such evils would lack where to recruit followers.
He urged the political leaders, particularly elected political office holders at the federal, state and local government levels, to work together towards protecting the basic rights of these children led to roaming the streets.
Alawuje argued that leaving the task to the Federal Government may not be the best way to tackle the problem but for political leaders at all levels to join hands together to address the issue.
“What are their responsibilities? Why are they leading us? If everything is concentrated on the Federal Government, I am afraid all the efforts to stop banditry, kidnappings, and terrorism will pale into insignificance,” he said.
He warned that unlike in the past when such children turned up to be responsible adults, the situation presently is that most of them are prone to take up crime because they grow up with a sense of rejection in society.
Alawuje pointed out that by neglecting the welfare of these children who grew up to become a menace to society, the political leaders are only endangering the lives of their own children.
“How could your children be happy when you turn millions of other citizens’ children into societal outcasts? Definitely, they will not allow your children and other innocent people to have peace,” he said.
Comrade Alawuje, therefore, called on all political officeholders to return to base and start rescuing the abandoned youths and street beggars, to safeguard the future of the society.
He warned that the lure to criminality such as banditry and kidnapping may appear more attractive to youths left to wander the streets without education or any worthwhile skills to earn a livelihood.
“In the past, people adhered to the preaching about the fear of God from our spiritual leaders, but now the majority of them have commercialised preaching, and the politicians have hijacked them for their political reasons.
“The bandits and kidnappers in the forest are not willing to turn over a new leaf. Worst still, they find easy followers amongst the army of children walking the streets, who now see what politicians are doing with the resources that belong to the people as motivation to commit crime,” Alawuje added.
Parts of the statement read:
“Tell me how we intend to end security challenges in a nation like Nigeria where cheating, looting, and embezzling of public funds had been normalised and legalised.
“In fact, it is going beyond normal because the same frustrated children are being transformed into tools in the hands of looters to fight the EFCC.
“The governors are not there to rescue the future of those hopeless children begging on the street, and the frustration in them keeps growing along with their rising number.
“Let us join hands together. The problem needs to be uprooted from the roots so that it will not later escalate beyond our control.”
Alawuje asked the Northern political leaders to forget about going to heaven if they failed in their responsibilities to address the plight of the huge number of children allowed to roam the streets.
“Forget about heaven if you turn deaf ears to my warning, and the guilt of those children will never allow you to enter heaven. With the people’s wealth you have acquired and keep for your children and grandchildren, while you turn blind eyes to the increasing number of beggars on the streets,” he said.
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