What ought to be a joyous moment turned out otherwise as people stampeded on Saturday morning at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja leading to the unfortunate death of 10 persons including children.
This was as many others were left with different degrees of injuries as a result of the stampede.
This was as a similar incident took place in Okija, Anambra State following a stampede that occurred during the distribution of rice.
The Abuja incident occurred during the distribution of palliatives that was organised by the church to support needy and struggling families in the community.
The distribution of the palliatives eventually witnessed the presence of a massive crowd of over 3,000 people that gathered at the Church premises from Gishiri, Mpape, and other nearby areas and before the organisers could gather themselves to organise the surging crowd, the situation spiralled out of control between the hours of 7:00am and 8:00am.
Eye witness accounts said that the overwhelming surge of people struggling to get relief items such as food led to chaos and with the eventual overpowering of the organisers by the huge crowd that did not allow planned distribution process which led to a stampede.
One of the eye witnesses, who said that she is a mother of five children, said the situation was heartbreaking, adding that unwanted and uninvited visitors took forced themselves into the premises of the church and unleashed avoidable crisis on genuine members and others that were invited for the palliatives.
She said; “Ten people, including children, have been reported dead. Some of them arrived as early as 4:00 AM to queue for the palliatives. It is sad and devastating.
“May God receive their souls and protect the rest of us from such harm,” she said.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the FCT Command, SP Josephine Adeh, confirmed the incident.
Similarly, the National Director of Social Communications at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Padre Mike Nsikak Umoh, confirmed the incident, saying; “It is true, though details are still sketchy. The church has suspended the palliative distribution indefinitely”.
Security agencies including personnel of the Nigeria police, Department of State Services (DSS), and the military were deployed to the scene to restore order and disperse the crowd.
The efforts of the security agencies ensured the calm evacuation of attendees, thereby brought to an abrupt end of what was intended to be a day of charity and assistance to the needy in the society.
The unfortunate incident is coming on the heels of a similar stampede few days ago in Ibadan, Oyo State, during which 35 children lost their lives and several others left critically injured during a funfair at the Islamic High School in Bashorun.
The event, which attracted an overwhelming crowd, later turned deadly when attendees rushed for food and gifts.
Similar incident took place in Okija, Anambra State in which about 20 people reportedly lost their lives in a stampede that followed rice distribution.
