Mokola Sabo: Ibadan suburb where dirt, children, beggars fight for space

In this Sunday Times’ report, STEPHEN GBADAMOSI captures the existence of residents of Sabo community in Mokola area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, highlighting the deplorable conditions and how children and adults are perpetually at risk.

Sabo is a phenomenon known in all parts of the country. Sabo is generally known as the settlement of non-indigenes in a particular town. As we have them in the South-West, so do we in the Northern and other parts of the country. The one in the heart of the city of Ibadan, Oyo State capital, is the point of reference here. It is located in the popular Mokola area of the city.

Sabo in Mokola is home to different categories of people; it is also synonymous with dirt. It is a place where you find traders who can boast of millions of naira in their accounts living or doing businesses with destitute.

Recently, the Oyo State government, under Engineer Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde, the governor, has been having a running battle with destitute and beggars in the state. The government wants to relocate beggars and destitute to a place specifically made for them in Akinyele Local Government Area of the state. Each time the government makes the move, the beggars return to the place they know as home: Sabo, Mokola! At the last count, there have been about three of such efforts.

Mokola’s Sabo is a place of interest. There are traders who sell reused goods, ranging from home furniture and other home appliances as well as phones and laptops. But it is not just a market; it is also a residential area. There are no good roads inside the residential part, apart from the road that leads from Barracks to Agbarigo area of Ibadan and the one leading from Mokola Roundabout to Lekan Salami Stadium/Ibadan Recreation Club area.

Inside the residential part, it is refuse, refuse and refuse. People just get out of their rooms and dump their refuse at their doorsteps.

Besides, there are a lot of children. Some are in school, while an appreciable population of them is not. There are many ‘madrasats’ (Quranic schools) in the neighbourhood peopled by children.

Speaking with our reporter, the Serki Sabo (King of Hausa community) said though the people of the community enjoy a robust relationship with the state governor, Enginner Makinde, they need more action on the welfare of the area, particularly from the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Mojeed Mogbonjubola, an architect.

According to him, “We are living peacefully with the government of Seyi Makinde. He is somebody that takes us as brothers just like he takes the Yoruba. We don’t have any issue with him.

“In terms of environment, the past governments have done one or two things positively, but there some past governments that we don’t appreciate up till tomorrow. There was one ran by my elder brother and father, ‘Baba alankara.’ We didn’t get the support of those.

“In terms of environment, Makinde is doing his best. It is left for his commissioners. The state Commissioner for Environment should be up and doing. Makinde has sanitised the Barracks road.

“Look at the under bridge area where they are selling phones; the gutters are blocked. And no one is calling the attention of the people doing business there to the rot.

“I want the governor and his commissioner to tell the companies there to do the needful. Look at Wema Bank and Solat Telecoms, the gutters in their frontage are blocked. Why can’t the commissioner write them to clear that drainage?

“All the businesses there should be made to clear that place.

“There are no roads inside Sabo; it’s like the other interiors of Ibadan like Alekuso, Oje and so on. Still, the community (in Sabo) at times the people bring out dirt to trucks who evacuate them for us.

“We have a health centre that is functional; and the local government is doing well. We have drugs there. The local government makes sure there is drug there every time.

“The bottom line is that the commissioner should talk to Wema, Solat and other doing business in that place; they are not making government efforts to show,” he said.

Ekotedo is another community very close to Sabo in Mokola. It is a sharp contrast to Sabo, as it has clean good roads. The Baale of Ekotedo, Elder (Dr.) Taiye Oyerinde, also spoke on the matter of Mokola’s Sabo. He particularly frowned on the issue of beggars who have defied all government entreaties to vacate the area.

“There used to be people from the Ministry of Environment that clean all these places; they are no more doing it. You can’t compare Sabo with Ekotedo. What I know is that the Seriki should call his chiefs to clean up the place. That’s what I do in Ekotedo; I have chiefs that are responsible for cleaning of our streets.

“The same thing is with the issue of the beggars; the government should call the Seriki and his chiefs to order. The Seriki’s mother is a Yoruba woman. In Yorubaland, we don’t have the culture of begging; it is a shameful thing.

“The leaders of Sabo community are responsible for whatever is happening there. They all speak Yoruba. They are our brothers. But we have to do things normally. Roads are not places for residents to be putting debris.

“As I told you, I devoted an Ekotedo chief to be in charge of cleaning the roads. What are your chiefs for? They are supposed to be helping your administration. I don’t want too much pressure to bear on these our people, because of conflict of religion. The permanent secretary and commissioner for environment are hard working. But we must imbibe the habit of cleanliness. Government cannot do it alone.

“Before the last Seriki died, we both sat down and talked about the issue of the beggars. They have places they live in; when it rains, they get into places. Who are the owners of those places? Freedom of movement does not give you freedom of nuisance.

“Let us review this constitution that says anybody can go anywhere and do whatever he or she likes. Here in our state, there is a law that says children must be in schools, but in Sabo, they use children to beg. We don’t do it here. Ethnicity and religion have wrecked a lot of havoc on us.

READ ALSO: Movie producer, Busayo Odu, responds to actress…

“If you want to do Sakat, go to the mosque or church to do it; it’s not to give to beggars beside roads. We need a committee of their (Sabo) chiefs and our chiefs to iron things out, so that we can advise the government properly on how to stop the menace of beggars, destitute and dirty environment.

“How did a blind man come from Sokoto to Ibadan? Somebody brought them. We have to address that issue,” Oyerinde said.

The Commissioner for Environment, Architect Mojeed Mogbonjubola, could not be reached to defend himself over the charge given to him by the Seriki of Sabo. His Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Oyewole, declined to comment when contacted over the matter.

Also, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Pastor Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said he would get Mogbonjubola to make a statement, but that did not happen until this report was filed for publication.

However, residents of the Ibadan metropolis have various ideas on how to solve the Sabo conundrum. A seller of secondhand (used) refrigerators in the area who simply identified himself as Hassan, said there was nothing that could be done to change the make of the area called Sabo in Mokola.

“Some of us are as old as indigenes of Ibadan in this place. As you are looking at this place, there are people who are millionaires living there. Are they complaining to anybody? People are just hustling to make ends meet. When government comes, we cooperate with them; if they don’t come, we carry on with our lives,” he said.

Also, a Yoruba trader in the area, Mrs. Adejoke Raji, who said the people in the neighbourhood cohabited without minding religious differences, said, “it is left to the government to know how to control the people to make the Sabo environment cleaner. There are a lot of innocent children here. They don’t know anything; but the dirty environment is dangerous to their health. A lot of women here don’t reckon with that. I put all the blame on the lap of the government. No one should be above the law.

“I am not saying it is peculiar to Sabo here; our people in Ibadan generally are not taking hygiene seriously.”

QUOTE:

Before the last Seriki died, we both sat down and talked about the issue of the beggars. They have places they live in; when it rains, they get into those places. Who are the owners of those places? Freedom of movement does not give you freedom of nuisance.