There was a mild drama in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti capital, on Friday morning, as two destitute begging for alms at the popular Fajuyi round about, engaged in free-for-all apparently for space.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the incident, which took place under the newly-constructed overhead bridge, leading to the Government House, left both of them sustaining injures.
It took the intervention of the Police Traffic officers and some members of the public to stop the fight but not without some levels of injury.
The destitute, who positioned themselves to seek for alms in large numbers, were usually seen at the spot, shortly after the bridge was inaugurated about five months ago.
They are always seen around vehicles held up by traffic lights at the spot.
One of those fighting, who simply gave his name as Sodiq, told NAN that the state government had asked them to leave the place but his colleagues disobeyed and continued to carry out their activities at the spot.
Sodiq said: “When I approached my colleague and informed him that he was going against the government’s directive by still staying at the spot to beg for alms, he suddenly picked up a fight with me and hit me with a club.”
The other destitute, Samaila Bashir, explained that Sodiq had been nursing a grudge against him for quite long as a result of a N200 cash gift he (Sodiq) did not benefit from.
He said: “Since then Sodiq has continued to insult me and today he insulted my father, Hence, I picked a quarrel with him which resulted in a fight.”
Some members of the public who witnessed the fight, called on the state government to remove the destitute from the streets.
When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Yinka Oyebode, said that at the appropriate time, the issue of destitute would be attended to.
Caleb Ikechukwu, the spokesman for Ekiti State Police Command, said the matter had not been officially reported to the police.
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