Following the reported deaths of 29 people in two stampedes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and Anambra State, the Police High Command has issued tough guidelines to organisers of palliatives distribution to avert future occurrence.
In the Anambra State incident, which occurred yesterday at Okija in Ihiala local government area, 19 people were declared dead, while 32 others sustained various degrees of injuries.
The stampede occurred when a philanthropist, Chief Ernest Obiejesi, popularly known as Obi Jackson, was distributing free Christmas rice at his Okija home.
In the Abuja stampede, 10 people reportedly lost their lives, and several others sustained injuries at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Maitama, Abuja, yesterday morning.
The tragic incident happened during a palliative distribution exercise organised by the church to provide relief for poor residents of nearby communities, including Mpape and Gishiri villages.
Tinubu Cancels Lagos Events To Honour Victims
In a swift reaction, President Bola Tinubu cancelled all his official events in Lagos yesterday, including his attendance at the 2024 Lagos Boat Regatta, in honour of the victims.
According to a statement issued by presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, the President was scheduled to watch the boat parade and other activities of the Boat Regatta from the waterfront of his Queen’s Drive residence in Ikoyi.
Dignitaries, including top officials of the Lagos State government and white cap chiefs from the state,
were already seated when the President cancelled his appearance following briefings on the tragedies.
Commiserating with the victims of the unfortunate incidents in Anambra and the Federal Capital Territory, Tinubu urged states and relevant authorities to enforce strict crowd control measures immediately.
He noted that it was very disturbing that the events at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja, and a community Centre in Okija, Anambra State, bore a distressing resemblance to the recent incident in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He said local and state authorities should no longer tolerate operational lapses by organisations and corporate bodies involved in charitable and humanitarian activities.
While praying for the peaceful repose of innocent Nigerians who died in the stampede, President Tinubu wished quick recovery to the injured.
He reiterated that these mishaps are avoidable if event planners adhere to necessary safeguards and protocols to ensure pre- and post-event safety.
”In a season of joy and celebration, we grieve with fellow citizens mourning the painful losses of their loved ones. Our prayers of divine comfort and healing are with them,” President Tinubu said.
Police Issue Tough Guidelines, Declare Violation Criminal Act
Consequently, the police have said that organisers of such charity activities must inform the police before the events to ensure proper crowd control.
In a reaction to the tragic incidents, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, warned against indiscriminate sharing of palliatives as the Christmas celebrations begin.
The IGP queried the unorganised distribution of palliatives and relief items in the country during this festive period.
Force PRO, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, told journalists at the briefing that the warning follows a series of tragic incidents that highlight the urgent need for a more structured and effective approach to delivering aid to vulnerable communities and members of the public in general.
The Force PRO said, “in light of these developments, the IGP has called on government officials, community leaders, and non-governmental organisations to work collaboratively towards establishing a comprehensive and organised framework for distributing palliatives.
“The IGP has hereby warned groups and organisers of similar events to ensure the involvement of security agencies as negligence on their part is criminal and would not be overlooked, as provided for in Section 196 of the Penal Code and Section 344 of the Criminal Code, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
He said the IGP had also encouraged the general public, who would want to benefit from such distributions, to tread with caution and prioritise their safety to avoid unforeseen calamities.
The IGP also ordered the affected states’ police commissioners to conduct thorough investigations into these ugly incidents for further legal action.
Also, the FCT Police Command, while expressing dismay over the incident, called for strict adherence to safety advisories and procedures about such events, including mandatory police notification in advance.
In a statement signed by the command’s spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, the police authorities said the stampede that claimed the lives of 10 individuals, including four children, and left eight others injured happened at about 6:30 am.
He said four of the injured have been treated and discharged, while the remaining victims continue to receive medical care. The FCT Police Rapid Response Squad and the FCT Joint Task Force had evacuated the remaining crowd, which numbered over a thousand.
“According to him, the Commissioner of Police CP Olatunji Disu, had visited the victims in the hospital to offer assistance and reassurance.
He went on: “To prevent such tragic incidents in the future, the command mandates that all organisations, religious bodies, groups, or individuals planning public events, charitable activities, or large gatherings in the FCT must notify the police command in advance.
“This notification is crucial for the deployment of adequate security measures to ensure public safety and prevent avoidable tragedies.
“Failure to comply with this directive will result in the organisers being held liable for any incidents or loss of life resulting from negligence,” he stated.
Eyewitnesses’ Account
Eyewitnesses said the stampede occurred between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. as the crowd surged forward to receive the items.
Sources at the Okija event told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the tragedy was caused by the beneficiaries’ greed and hunger.
It was learnt that there were enough bags of rice for the hundreds of residents who thronged the venue, but the intended beneficiaries allegedly overpowered the organisers and scrambled to carry as many bags as possible, resulting in an uncontrollable situation.
In the Anambra incident, eyewitnesses said many residents fainted while others fell and were trampled upon. Similarly, some bags of rice fell on the victims when they slipped off the hands of those who had rushed to carry them.
Narrating the incident, an eyewitness, Mrs Maria Okonkwo, said, “The number of people was too much, and more people were still coming to partake in the sharing of the bags of rice when they started shouting. The organisers were busy trying to control the crowd, but there was nothing they could do because the crowd overpowered them.
“Some people started falling, and some of those that fell were trampled upon by the surging crowd, which led to the death of the victims.
“I cannot say how many people died, but it could be around 10 or 13, but those that were injured were more than 30. About six fainted,” she said.
Efforts to get to the organisers of the event were futile as none of them picked their calls.
Reacting to the incident, the Anambra Police Command public relations officer Tochikwu Ikenga said in a press release that the state police operatives had taken over the scene in Okija.
“Preliminary information reveals that a known philanthropist from the Okija Community, on his yearly schedule, shares some palliatives with the community members to provide succour to the less privileged.
Unfortunately, before the event could start, a large number of uncontrolled persons took over the event area, which resulted in a stampede.
He was, however, silent on the death toll, but LEADERSHIP Sunday learnt that 19 died in the tragedy.
Anambra Govt Blames Organisers, Ex-Police Chiefs, Others Offer Solutions
Meanwhile, the Anambra State Commissioner of Information, Chief Law Mefor, has expressed sadness at the tragic incidences.
Mefor blamed the situation on poor arrangements adopted by the organisers of the food distribution.
He told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the cause of the stampede was not necessarily desperation caused by the prevailing hardship, especially hunger across the country, but the poor arrangement adopted by the organisers for the food distribution.
He said, “It doesn’t make sense in distributing palliatives to more than a hundred persons to gather all the beneficiaries in one particular venue to distribute such items to them.
“Where a large number of people anticipated is more than 100, the natural arrangement is to decentralise the distribution.
“Anambra State is very organised socially—we have town unions and village heads; why don’t you distribute the rice palliatives through these and later go to the various town unions and village heads to check the register of the distribution?”
He, however, ruled out the possibility of the state government promulgating any law to regulate methods for palliative distribution by philanthropists. He advised benefactors to stop gathering the intended beneficiaries of their intended gestures at a central venue to share such items.
He stated that because Obi Jackson’s act of philanthropy had become an annual ritual and was known even by people outside his Okija and, indeed, Ihiala local government at large, people from neighbouring towns to the area would have also gone to benefit from the rice distribution, which, therefore, created more crowd than was anticipated.
Also, two retired senior police officers, Mr. Kevin Okpe, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), and his colleague, Mr. Christian Onyekonwu, blamed the lack of proper crowd control security arrangements for the deaths and injuries recorded at Obi Jackson’s rice distribution.
“The problem is that our people do not value security when doing anything. The organisers should have applied for security so that police personnel would be deployed for crowd control.
“If there were policemen at the event, they should have made sure that everyone queued up in line and went to carry the rice one after the other,” Onyekonwu said.
Okpe said the best way to distribute palliatives is through town unions and village heads, not gathering many people in one place.
He said, “When I was a DPO (Divisional Police Officer) at Otukpa in Kogi State, a certain wealthy man there came to me and said I should send my men to him, that he wants to distribute palliatives to his people. I told him, no. I rather advised him to go and give those items to the heads of the villages. And let him go to every village later to find out how the items were distributed. And my advice worked.
The items were distributed very peacefully to the beneficiaries. So, there is no need to gather more than 100, 1,000, 5,000 and up to more than 1000,000 people at one place to share palliatives with them. Stampede is bound to occur,” Okpe argued further.
On December 18, 2024, a tragic incident occurred in Ibadan, Oyo State, where a stampede at a children’s fun fair resulted in the deaths of at least 35 children and left many others critically injured.