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CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE, POVERTY RESPONSIBLE FOR STAMPEDES DEATHS OF 105 NIGERIANS – ASCAB
The Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) has condemned the deadly stampede that resulted in the deaths of at least 105 Nigerians between March 2022 and December 2024.
It attributed the tragedy to criminal negligence and the dire effects of poverty.
The organisation also vowed to mobilize lawyers to file civil suits to ensure survivors and the families of the victims are adequately compensated.
In a statement issued on Sunday by Femi Falana SAN, Chair of ASCAB, the organisation lamented that the victims were primarily poor and disadvantaged citizens who had been left vulnerable by the country’s neoliberal economic policies.
“Therefore, the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond has resolved to mobilise lawyers to institute civil suits to ensure that the survivors and family members of the casualties are adequately compensated,” the statement said.
Falana stated that many of the victims, in desperate search of food and meagre palliatives, found themselves in a tragic stampede, exacerbated by the inability of security forces to manage the crowd effectively.
The statement accused the ruling class of criminal negligence, claiming that while the federal and state governments have expressed condolences, they have failed to take meaningful action to prevent such avoidable tragedies from occurring.
ASCAB noted that urgent reforms and accountability are needed to protect vulnerable citizens from such life-threatening situations in the future.
The statement read, “Between March 2022 and December 2024, no fewer than 105 Nigerian citizens including children were killed in stampede over distribution of rice and sharing of N5,000 stipend. The details are set out below:
“On May 22, 2022, more than 30 people were killed in a stampede in Port Harcourt Rivers State during an overcrowded church charity event where food was being distributed.
“On March 22, 2024, two students of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi died during the distribution of palliatives while 23 were hospitalised. The tragic incident occurred following a stampede that occurred at the university’s convocation square. The convocation square was the venue for the distribution of palliatives to the students by the Nasarawa State government.”
ASCAB continued, “On March 25, 2024, seven people, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed in a crush at a charity event in Bauchi. It was a businessman in Bauchi who had invited residents to collect 5,000 Naira each. Police confirmed that seven people – four adult women and three girls, aged between eight and 55 – were killed in the incident in the Jos Road area of Bauchi city, though some locals have put the death toll higher.
“On April 7, 2024, 9 persons died during a stampede that occurred at the residence of a senator in Sokoto. The stampede occurred as residents struggled for palliatives being shared at the home of the lawmaker.
“On December 19, 2024, 35 children were confirmed dead while 6 others were injured during the Children Christmas Funfair tragedy that occurred in Ibadan, Oyo State. The children were crushed to death during a stampede that occured as the event was about taking off at the Islamic High School, Basorun, Ibadan.”
ASCAB also regretted that on December 21, 2024, “at least 10 people, including children died and several others sustained injuries during a stampede at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja”.
It said, “The incident occurred as thousands of residents scrambled to receive palliatives distributed by the church. The event, organised to provide relief to struggling residents, drew over 3,000 people, mostly from Mpape, Gishiri Village, and other nearby settlements.
“On December 21, 2024, at least 12 people were confirmed dead in Okija town, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, during a scramble for Christmas rice. An estimated 32 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in the stampede, which occurred during the distribution of rice organized by a local philanthropist.”
ASCAB explained that in all the aforementioned cases, the victims and casualties were poor and disadvantaged citizens who had been reduced to beggars by the poverty induced by the neoliberal economic policies of the Federal Government.
“Thus, in searching for food and meagre palliatives, the victims lost their lives in stampede that occurred due to the inadequacies of the security forces to control and manage crowds in the country.
“There is also a sociological dimension to this national shame of episodic loss lives in stampedes triggered by mass hunger in the land.
“This should not be ignored. Here we are talking of the unpardonable lack of respect for the dignity of the poor on the part of the members of the middle and upper classes involved in charity. If you want to give a poor man food or money, for heaven’s sake, it should be done with utmost decency and demonstrable humanity. You can be generous to the poor and respect them at the same time,” ASCAB stated.
The organisation said, for instance, instead of asking frail men and women to assemble at a poorly organised venue in order to hand out N5,000 to each of them, the money could simply be transferred electronically to their bank accounts or the accounts of those the beneficiaries can trust.
It said, “To be sure, there are alternatives to the dehumanising display of generosity prevailing in the society. After all, no member of the elite would invite other members of his class to lunch by throwing the food.
“Neither will a member of the upper class elect to give support to his middle class friends by asking them to queue for envelopes of money before camera.”
ASCAB stressed that the vulgar exhibitionism and egregious humiliation of the poor in the distribution of humanity has assumed a sickening proportion. In this regard, government officials, private organisations and individuals are all culpable.
“Besides, the concept of palliative has been grossly distorted even by public intellectuals discussing the problem. The word palliative has a medical origin. So by definition, the giving of palliatives should not be interpreted to mean the cure of the underlying malaise of the poverty and misery of the people,” it said.
According to the statement, “Palliatives are meant to give a temporary relief to pains and other symptoms of the problem. To start extent, palliatives definitely serves a critical purpose The cure, of course, is the socio-economic transformation of the country by employing the instrumentality of pro-people policies.
“Doubtless, the class prejudice inherent in the humanitarian culture in Nigeria should be ideologically confronted.
Meanwhile, since the individuals whose criminal negligence led to the avoidable tragedies are members of the ruling class the federal government and state governments have not gone beyond sending condolence messages to the survivors and the family members of the casualties.
