Stop Attacking Wike, Arewa Youths Tell Clerics

The Arewa Youths for Peaceful Coexistence has called on Muslim Clerics to stop their relentless attacks on the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) following the ban on beggars in the nation’s capital.

In a statement signed by its chairman, Abuja Chapter, Mark Ogah Okpanachi, and Secretary Haruna Bature, the groups said the decision to ban begging in Abuja has become necessary as it has become an embarrassing trend.

Part of the statement read, “The attention of the Arewa Youths for Peaceful Coexistence has been drawn to recent attacks by a cross-section of Muslim Clerics on the Hon. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (F.C.T.), Abuja, following the disbandment of beggars in Abuja.

“The Arewa Youths for Peaceful Coexistence wishes to observe that begging in the F.C.T. has turned out to be a lucrative but embarrassing trade which cuts across all ethnic divides of our Nation.

“The decision by the Hon. Minister of the F.C.T. to get rid of beggars in Abuja is, therefore, a plausible development that will enhance the security, status and decency standards within and around the Federal Capital Territory and should therefore not be seen as an act intended to hurt or malign any particular group of individuals in the society.”

The group, therefore, called on all Muslim Clerics not to see the decision as a witch-hunt, adding that the holy Quran and the teachings of Islam abhor begging as a trade.