30th December, 2010
By Paul Sanusi
A 17-year old girl pretending to be suffering from breast cancer, Miss Annuche Nnorum, has been arrested by officials of Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, the law enforcement arm of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment.
Annuche, mother of a two-month old baby boy, was arrested with her 50-year old mother, Ngozi and 19-year old sister, Chioma, at Oshodi, along the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway.
Mr. Ayo Ogunbiyi, KAI Commander of Oshodi zone, who led the team that arrested the pretenders said he had earlier stopped them and other beggars from coming to the highway to beg for alms. While others obeyed, Annuche and members of her family failed to heed the warning.
He said that after a close observation, he discovered that there was nothing wrong with the girl and that she was only deceiving Nigerians that she had breast cancer.
During interrogation, Annuche said she finished primary six at New Layout Primary School, Arochukwu, Abia State and Eleja Primary School, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, adding that she took to begging in November, 2010, after she gave birth on 5 October. She explained that the man who impregnated her ran away and there was no one to take care of her and her mother.
She told P.M.NEWS that she makes between N1,500 and N2,500 daily, which she uses to take care of the baby and her sick mother.
Chioma, 19, her sister who was also arrested said she joined her sister in begging because there was no one to help them after the death of their father.
Their 50-year old mother, Mrs. Ngozi Nnorum, said she couldn’t discourage her daughters from begging because she was not doing anything for a living.
She said since she was unable to engage in any trade due to her sickness, the family lives on the proceeds from begging.
Captain Danjuma Maigeri, the KAI Marshal-General urged Lagosians to be wary of people who go around begging in the name of one sickness or the other.
He said the arrested pretenders would be handed over to the appropriate quarters where their fate would be determined.
An official of KAI confirmed to P.M.NEWS that they were later handed over to the Welfare Department of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Welfare, where they were released after signing an undertaking not to go back to begging.
