Ibadan Stampede: Peter Obi Cautions Against Criminalizing Good Intentions Of Cheerful Givers
...Promises To Reach Out, Engage With Victims For Assistance
Nigeria’s Labour Party leader and Presidential Candidate of the party during the last general elections, Mr. Peter Obi has commiserated with the government and people of Oyo State, especially the families of the victims of the unfortunate children funfair stampede at Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan.
Mr. Obi, represented by the National Coordinator, Obedient Movement Worldwide, Dr Yunusa Tanko conveyed his heartfelt condolences over the tragic incident during the visit to Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan and Patnas Specialist Hospital, Bashorun, Ibadan.
The Labour Party leader expressed dismay that the search for a basic necessity of life could lead to preventable and avoidable loss of precious lives.
“It is unbelievable that people, including children would be stampeded just for basic necessity of life- food”, Obi lamented.
He promised to intensify efforts to get contacts, reach out and engage with the victims in terms of rendering assistance to the victims.
The Labour Party leader while praying for eternal rest for the departed souls, called on philanthropic individuals and organizations to always involve security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC in such programmes involving the distribution of palliatives to forestall future recurrence of such unwanted stampede.
According to Mr. Obi, “The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and its states counterparts should be involved, ambulance service should be provided because with the current hardships and hunger in the country, an event of such magnitude will attract huge crowd, which necessitates due diligence in terms of pre-event arrangements, effective crowd control measures and adequate protection are important for the beneficiaries to avoid casualties.
The former Anambra state governor advised governments at all levels not to assume that philanthropic assistance, which ought to be addendum to what government should do are problem solving initiatives, but they should take care of the people’s needs such as food, decent shelter, security of lives and property and other basic necessity of life.
Mr. Obi, who cautioned against criminalizing the good intentions of the cheerful givers, said investigation into such incidents should be geared towards preventing a repeat of stampede in order not to deter other well-meaning Nigerians and organizations.
