Amidst the raging Covid-19 pandemic, the Ondo State Government has repatriated almajiris who unlawfully came into the state from Sokoto.
The beggar-kids; numbering twenty-five; according to reports, were driven into the state in a truck.
According to Police sources, the almajiris entered the state by walking through bush paths to cross the state’s borders, thereby beating the blockades made by security officials enforcing the lockdown directives. This; they did; before rejoining the truck that brought them, after finding their way back to the expressway.
It would be noted that Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, first raised the alarm of almajiris pouring in from northern states on Monday while he was updating residents of the state on developments regarding the efforts of the government in curtailing the spread of the coronavirus disease.
He had lamented the porosity of the entry points into the state, manned by security agencies in line with the restriction of movement order.
Akeredolu had noted that “some states in the Northern Nigeria are already deploying almajiris to other parts of the country.” He, however, did not name the states where the alamajiris were coming from.
He called on residents of the state to be vigilant and report any unusual large population of young people imported to the state.
“As I said earlier, undesirable penetration at the borders and disregard for social distancing remain our low points,” he said. “Reports and daily briefing support these facts.”
A source at the Ondo State Government House, hinted that the government got the information on the movement of the almajiris and notified the security agencies to swiftly ensure they were not allowed.
“We cannot allow them in, they have to return to where they are coming from,” the source said. “The government already had the information and that led the Governor to make the statement on the matter.”
Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Ondo State Command, Tee Leo-Ikoro, confirmed that the group of young men were intercepted and “have been taken out of the state.”
Mr Leo-Ikoro said the young men said they were coming from Sokoto State and had come in through Kogi State which shares boundaries with Ondo State.
“This afternoon, we took them back to the boundary between Ondo and Kogi, because they said they came through a village in Kogi State,” the police spokesman said.
“We have to take them back to the boundary and asked them to return to Sokoto.”
He also said they have gotten directives to block the bush paths where the almajiris had cut into the major roads in order to ensure none of them returned to the state.
“With the blockade of those paths, because they know all the bush paths, we have ensured that no one is allowed to go through it. They were returned in the same truck they came in with.”
