A mother and witness of the tragic children’s funfair stampede, Idayat Abubakar, has recalled how the tragic incident claimed many lives.
TheNewsGuru.com(TNG) reports that several persons, mostly children, were feared dead while many others were injured during a children’s carnival at Basorun Islamic High School in Ibadan, Oyo state.
Abubakar, in an interview with TheCable, disclosed that a lot of people, numbering over 2,000 people, travelled from Ogbomosho, Iseyin, and Osun state to the event venue on Tuesday and camped inside the school, enduring the crisp cold of the night.
The witness noted that the CEO of Agidigbo FM, Oriyomi Hazmat, had told the attendees that ticket sharing would begin at 6 am. However, Hamzat did not arrive at the venue until a few minutes before 8 am on D-day, and with his arrival came chaos.
Abubakar stressed that some mothers, including herself were trapped with their babies as there were no security or police at the event.
Hamzat was said to have tried to manage the crowd from the gate’s entrance but was overwhelmed.
She said, “As of 10 pm on Tuesday, when I left the school, there were already about 2,000 people in the school, if not more.
“If you ask why someone like me was there, the event was not for the poor. For me, it was more or less like fun, like we went for a picnic; we had our dishes and lots of snacks for our kids, watched those that would win the scholarship and made posts on social media. I bought new shoes for my baby and made a new hairdo for her, just for the event.
“Immediately he got to the scene, people started hailing him. When he saw the crowd, he put his hand on his head. They had to smuggle him inside. While opening the gate for him, people rushed in and started falling on themselves. There was no security, no police.
“My younger sister got injured; she was stepped on with her baby. Till now, she has not recovered.
“A lot of us were trapped with our babies. I was backing my baby, and my sister was holding hers. So, when they pushed her, she fell on the floor. She fainted twice, and when I saw her, they were already pouring water on her head. At one point, the baby could not even breathe.
“They opened the walkway gate when the stampede started at the main gate. I was at the front of the gate, so I was able to walk in unhurt.