The Policemen attached to the Imo State University, Owerri, have arrested two men who have been ripping off unsuspecting members of the public, by pretending to be blind and begging for alms.
Their arrest, Punch learnt followed intelligence information given to the police by some students of the institution.
A student leader, Chidi Onyeji, told Southern City News
“The policemen attached to the entry gate of Imo State University, Owerri uncovered the swindle activities of a particular group who devise unlawful means to attract sympathy and rip off kind-hearted students of their hard-earned money under the pretext of being blind.”According to Onyeji, luck ran out on the suspects when one of the policemen called one of the beggars, and on approaching, the cop slapped him and asked him to open his eyes.
He explained that upon interrogation, the two fake blind persons confessed to the crime, saying they took to the crime to make ends meet because they were unemployed.
The suspects had been transferred to the state Police Command in Owerri, where they were being interrogated.
Nigeria is a useless country for real. What crime is there in begging for alms while pretending to be blind? What law gives the police the right to slap people and beat them for begging under false pretext? Yes, their pretentious blindness is both reprehensible and condemnable, but it is not a crime since there is no report that they robbed or forced anyone into giving them something. Do these policemen have no crimes to fight in Imo state?
What is so frightening about Nigeria’s future is that a so called student leader is so ignorant of the law that he invited the police into arresting his fellow citizens for begging. Nigerians should begin to fight back abusive police officers. The police officers in this picture are criminals and should never remain on the job. Not only have they made illegal arrests, they have also physically abused the citizens who were begging — the police’s conduct is criminal, while that of the beggars’ is only distasteful.