Arewa Youths for Peaceful Coexistence has described as a plausible development the decision of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to get rid of beggars in Abuja.

The group, in a statement signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Mark Ogah Okpanachi and Haruna Bature, noted that the development will enhance the security, status, and decency standards within and around the territory.

Arewa youths expressed displeasure over recent attacks by a cross-section of Muslim Clerics on the Minister following the development.

According to the group, begging in the FCT was turning into not just a lucrative but very embarrassing trade that cuts across all ethnic divides of the nation.

“The decision by the Hon. Minister of the FCT to get rid of beggers in Abuja is therefore a plausible development that will enhance the security, status and decency standards within and around the territory and should therefore not be seen as an act intended to hurt or malign any particular group of individuals in the society.

“We, therefore, wish to call on all Muslim Clerics not to see the decision as a witch-hunt because It was stated in the holy Quran and the teachings practiced of Islam abhors begging as a trade.”