Over 200 leprosy patients in a Leprosy community in Minna, Niger State capital, have called on Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago to intervene in the land dispute between their community and some government officials to enable them go about their farming activities without harassment.
The leader of the community, Mallam Bello Umar, who spoke when Inter-Tribal Community donated food items to leprosy patients, said vigilantes were being used by some government officials to harass them.
He said, “We don’t have freedom and right of our own to do things. Every day we get intimidated even without committing any offence. We are physically challenged but we don’t go out to beg to feed. We are into farming to produce what to eat and that is what we are used to.
“But this year, we have started cultivating crops when some people came to tell us that all the lands we cultivate belong to them, so we should keep off. We want the governor to help us. We are not claiming the ownership of the lands. They should allow us to continue to cultivate crops to produce what to eat.
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“These people use vigilantes to harass us. They said they don’t want to see us farming on the lands. We are helpless. We are not used to begging. So, if they stop us from farming, what do we eat? We are more than 200 in the community and right now, none of us is farming since the rainy season started this year.”
The Chairman, Social Welfare Committee of the Inter-Tribal Community in the state, Suleiman Ahmed, said government needed to intervene to allow the leprosarium produce to feed themselves.
He said Inter-Tribal Community had distributed food items to the leprosy community, orphans and other less privileged to relieve them of the hardship being faced by citizens.
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