DAILY TRUST
At least 213 Nigerians lost their lives to separate stampedes in the last 11 years, investigations by Daily Trust have revealed.
Majority of those incidents were recorded during distributions of food items.
There were also instances of stampedes during recruitment exercises and religious activities.
In the last six days, stampedes during food distributions killed about 72 lives in Ibadan, Oyo State; Okija community, Anambra State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
About 40 children lost their lives to a stampede at the Islamic High School in Bashorun, Ibadan, on Wednesday during a funfair organised by an ex-queen of the Ooni of Ife, Naomi Shikemi.
The Abuja and Anambra’s stampedes happened on Saturday. Ten persons reportedly died in the former; and 22 in the latter. Several others were said to be injured.
A mother of one of the victims of the Ibadan stampede, who simply identified herself as Mrs. Oniyide, said: “I did not know that anyone was sharing anything, my child, 10 years old, Aina, did not tell me. No one told me. She went hawking as she normally hawks ogi (corn pap) for me every morning. We found her body in one of the hospitals very late at night.”
Similarly, some relatives of the victims of the stampede in Okija community, spoke to Daily Trust yesterday about the incident.
A local government officer, Michael Obi, said his cousin “left our house in the morning with others and never came back. When we heard about the stampede, we thought it was a minor issue, but we never imagined we would be among the victims. It is a sad thing to talk about, but we believe that God is the giver of life, and He takes it when it pleases Him.”
He said his cousin was supposed to travel to her maternal home for Christmas, but decided to wait for the annual Obiejesi rice distribution.
Also speaking, Mrs. Margaret Edozie, who lost her son, said: “How can a mother bury her son under these circumstances? This is painful and devastating. Our Christmas has turned into a tragedy.”
A witness, Peter Uche, said, “If the people had been patient and behaved in an orderly manner, there would have been no need for the rush and the resulting stampede. There was enough rice that could have got to everyone present.
“Instead, some people, rather than take one bag, tried to carry multiple bags. As a result, the weaker ones became victims. This is tragic.”
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