Many motorists in the Apapa area of Lagos were taken aback last Tuesday, when an angry beggar suddenly pounced on a traffic warden, beating him thoroughly and leaving him with broken lips and a bruised hand.
The beggar with a deformed left hand, plying his trade around Leventis Bus Stop, Apapa, was said to have launched a surprise attack on the unsuspecting traffic warden attached to the Area B Police Command and identified simply as Sergeant Tope, at about 7:30pm.
Blood immediately began to gush out from the traffic warden’s broken lips. As the sergeant made efforts to grab him, the rampaging beggar bit his hand
An eyewitness, Emmanuel Momoh, said the traffic warden had earlier kept a pair of shoes near the point where he was controlling traffic, but when he later went back to that point to pick the shoes, they had disappeared.
He was said to have asked people around about his missing shoes, but nobody could give him a satisfactory explanation about them.
Irked by the theft of his shoes, the traffic warden was said to have begun to rain curses on the culprit. But from nowhere, the beggar emerged and landed a punch on the sergeant’s lips.
Blood immediately began to gush out from the traffic warden’s broken lips. As the sergeant made efforts to grab him, the rampaging beggar bit his hand. Before the traffic warden could regain his balance, the beggar lifted him and hit him heavily on the ground.
Some policemen later stormed the scene of the fight and arrested the rampaging beggar.
Momoh said the sergeant did not accuse any particular person over his missing shoes before the angry beggar pounced on him.
He said, “The traffic warden was on duty doing his job and when he had closed for the day, he decided to carry his shoes where he kept them. But unfortunately for him, somebody had stolen the shoes. He began to ask who took his shoes away, but everybody around claimed innocence. The traffic warden began to curse the thief. He said God should punish the person that stole his shoes.
“At that juncture, the beggar came and hit him. That was how the fight started. If not that other policemen came on time, the other beggars would have joined their colleagues to attack the traffic warden. I don’t know what this country is turning into. How can a civilian, I mean a beggar, be bold enough to attack a traffic warden in uniform? If the police authorities fail to take this matter up, these beggars will be fighting policemen every now and then.”
Corroborating the eyewitness, a police woman, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The beggar began to fight him (traffic warden). He injured his lips and also bit his hands before pushing the traffic warden on the ground. And it was then policemen came to rescue him from the beggar. Before policemen arrived the scene, about 30 beggars had surrounded the two men fighting. They watched and laughed as their colleague beat up the traffic warden.”
After the arrest of the beggar, the injured traffic warden told his colleagues at the Apapa Police Station, “I was on duty. I kept my other shoes where I usually kept them while working at that spot. When I came back to collect my shoes, I did not see them again. I was asking people around about the shoes, but nobody claimed to know who took them. I began to curse the thief. I said that God should expose the person who stole my shoes. I also said that God should punish the person. Before I knew it, this beggar came and gave me a punch on my mouth. I started bleeding, but I decided not to let him escape. I held his cloth and called on my colleagues to assist me. They later came and arrested him.”
At the police station, the beggar, however, denied starting the fight. He claimed that the traffic warden accused him falsely, just to embarrass him.
“He (traffic warden) hit me first. That was why I had to retaliate. He was fighting me; so I had to fight back. I did not steal his shoes. I don’t know anything about his shoes,” he explained.
But the policemen from the Apapa Police Station, who had earlier arrested the beggar, detained him in the station’s cell.
Matthew Dike, Apapa, Lagos.
