Lagos Task Force Arrests Mother, Son for Fake Street Begging

For faking an injury on her son, the operatives of the Lagos State Task Force, yesterday arrested a fake street beggar, one 40-year-old Chinagoro  Uwenke  and her 11-year-old son, Sunny, at the Oshodi area of the state. The Chairman of the Lagos State Task Force,  Olayinka Egbeyemi, while parading the suspect, disclosed that there were many fake beggars pretending and deceiving innocent members of the public with different illnesses/diseases. Already,  Egbeyemi said the agency was collaborating with relevant  government Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) to get rid of these beggars on the streets/roads of Lagos.

Egbeyemi said the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, had directed that the suspect be immediately charge to court. He however, appealed to members of the public to stop giving alms to these fake beggars who troop into Lagos in large numbers on daily basis. In her confessional statement, the suspect, confirmed that she bandaged her son’s leg with two rolls of white bandages and poured GV blue ink on his leg everyday in order to deceive members of the public to give alms to the innocent boy.

Uwenke said she and her son stays at Oloko-danna near Ijora-Olopa area at Oyingbo but she stopped her son’s education at JSS II at Oworebiri Secondary School at Ata Town in Abia State, for street begging when she realised that it was a lucrative business where she made N3,500 to N5,000 on daily basis. She said: “I took my son, Sunny Uwenke  to Lagos five years ago to beg for alms while my remaining five children are at Ata Town in Abia State with their father. I made much money from alms at Oshodi than any other areas of Lagos because of higher influx of people around the area.” She however pleaded with the government not to charge her to court as she is ready to go back to her town and re-unite with her family voluntarily.