December of stampedes: Unfortunate Ibadan, Okija Abuja deaths – gory fatal stampedes stories from past

December of stampedes: Unfortunate Ibadan, Okija Abuja deaths – gory fatal stampedes stories from past

Kunle OYELEYE

It is no longer news that Christmas is here again a time when people from all walks of life gather to celebrate, cavort and horse around in the spirit of oneness as the season requires, its also a season of gifting and glamorous display of kindness and friendliness. So, this has hitherto propelled some individuals and groups to roll out some funfair and carnival like events. At Ibadan, an ex- wife of the revered Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi the Ojaja 111, Queen Sikunola, in conjunction with a popular radio station organised a children funfair, gave a wide publicity to the event, alas the event turned to tragedy resulting in the demise of over 40 minors and several others with different degrees of injuries.

Also, at Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Maitama, came out in their usual humanitarian manner to give back to the society food items and others but the good gesture turned bloody as 10 people lost their lives in the exercise due to stampede.

As if that was not enough, 17 people were confirmed dead and several others sustained injuries at Okija, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, following a stampede during the distribution of Christmas rice by officials of Obijackson Foundation.

Investigation revealed the Foundation has been distributing such gifts annually for many years and people in the entire Ihiala local government and other neighbouring communities always looked forward to it, so, this equally became bloody and fatalities recorded in the stampede.

Since stampede is a dangerous situation that occurs when a crowd of people surges in a similar direction at the same time, often due to a perceived threat or lack of space. Stampedes can cause injuries and fatalities, and are a type of crowd disaster.

It is not out of place to look at some causes of this menace in this December.

Common causes of stampedes include: poor crowd control, overcapacity, narrow spaces, poorly planned event spaces, and bulky or dangerous structures and indiscipline and disorderly conduct of the people.

The most common cause of death in a stampede is compressive asphyxia, which occurs when external pressure on the body prevents breathing, injuries as a result of trampling et cete ra.

Stampedes are complex and spontaneous. However, here are strategies for its prevention:

Improving crowd management, designing venues with better layouts, and conducting drills to improve coordination and communication.

Stampedes occur everywhere across the world but let’s see the recent ones in our history:

2022 Nigerian church stampede: At least 31 people died in a stampede at a church in Rivers state, Nigeria.

Mecca: 2, 300 dead on September 24, 2015: A gigantic stampede at the site of the stoning of the stelae in Mina near Mecca, during the annual pilgrimage, left some 2,300 people dead, the deadliest disaster in the history of the Hajj.

1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy: 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a tunnel near Mecca during the Hajj.

2013 Santa Maria nightclub stampede: More than 230 people died in a stampede after a fire broke out at a nightclub in Brazil.

2017 Mumbai pedestrian bridge stampede: 22 people died and 32 were injured in a stampede on a pedestrian bridge connecting two railway stations.

2022 Mata Vaishnav Devi shrine stampede: At least 12 people died and 15 were injured in a stampede at the shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

2015 Rajmundary Godavari Pushkar mela stampede: 60 people were injured in a stampede at the Pushkar mela in Andhra Pradesh.

1986 Kumbh Mela stampede: More than 100 people were injured in a stampede at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad.

Stampede can happen at the stadium, malls, religious gatherings, social and political gatherings.

In Nigeria, what makes December of stampede a subject is the peçularity of the reason people got trapped in stampedes. Jostling for what money can buy in the market. Such commodity becomes unaffordable luxury because the economic power of the common man is thin and lean due to the general state of the economy that is in comatose gasping for air. In the past only the last cadre on the class of economic pyramid goes to the queue for rice in the public space.

The economic reform of the government is daily stripping the common people their lives, integrity, marriages and sanity. So many people are on the precipice. local people now die daily higher than ever witnessed during any reform ever. Though economic reform is honourable for us at this time but government should find a way to mitigate the effects on the common man, corruption in high places should be checked, cost of governance should be beaten down as well and there must be deliberate action towards rescuing the economy of the country. The economic theory of the President is elitist in nature. Something should be done to crash prices of basic commodities for the masses at least food items and transportation. There is upsurge in prices of all commodities useful for every household – cooking gas, fuel, food stuffs, transportation etc. The upsurge has occasioned closure of several small scale businesses.

The 3 stampedes in Nigeria in the spate of one week have their root cause in poor government policies and unsympathetic disposition of government to the masses.

Government must come out to declare state of emergency on poverty as early as possible.

I pray we shall no longer experience tragic stampedes as the year 2024 winds down.

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