A Northerner, Ismaila Yusuf, has lambasted politicians from the region for allegedly Institutionalising poverty through the Almajiri system in the North.
Yusuf, made the statement in a series of tweets on Monday, he accused the Northern politicians of taking advantage of the almajiri system in the region, especially during an election period.
Yusuf, who said he was once an almajiri, said it’s disheartening that despite taking advantage of them, they still wallow in abject poverty.
He went further to say that he only escaped perpetual poverty through the help of one Mr Ndubuisi Okoye, who hail from Anambra, a state in an Igbo speaking part of Nigeria.
“After the Federal Government, the Igbo business men in the North are the next highest employers of Arewa youths,” Yusuf tweeted on Monday.
According to him, some of the almajiri boys survive with the help of Igbo businessmen in the region, who, according to him, does not discriminate against them.
“Some of our boys survive because the Igbo business men don’t discriminate against them, but you want to tell us they are our enemies? Allah ya kiyaye. Enough please”(sic).
Part of the tweet reads:
“Every election cycle, you want to take advantage of the almajiri system that you politicians use to institutionalise poverty in the North.”
“Why not empower these almajiris with Education so they can truly love you, rather than using poverty to keep them under control?
“I was once an almajiri, & I only escaped perpetual poverty because an Igbo man, Mr. Ndibisi Okoye took me in, put me through the apprenticeship system, sent me to school & settled me
“He has never asked me to repay him, but I will repay him by making sure your lies don’t prevail.
Corroborating Yusuf’s story, another Northerner, Saidu Imran, in a tweet said he had such experience in the hands of an Igbo business man in Adamawa.
Imran, who said he hailed from Yobe State said, he was once recruited into almajiri in 2007 and they were used as thugs for Murtala Nyako political ambition.
According to Imran, Nyako won the election and they were paid N10,000 each for six months for the job well done.
“This is normal. Was recruited back 2007 as thug for Murtala Nyako and we’re paid 10k for 6months after he won. Every end of month, we will line up at Galadima Aminu way.
“Just drugs, fight, fight and sickness. Until I met the man that changed my entire existence. And he’s Igbo,” Imran tweeted.
To Yusuf and Imran, the kindness shown to them by Igbo Men in the North has changed their narrative and the way they see Igbo people, especially, in a country like Nigeria where tribalism and religious bigotry thrives.
