IBADAN STAMPEDE: FAILURE OF OUR SYSTEM, NOT NAOMI’S
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IBADAN STAMPEDE: FAILURE OF OUR SYSTEM, NOT NAOMI’S
By Dayo Awude
The tragic incident in Ibadan last week that led to the death of 35 children, is a clear reflection of the failings and failure in our system, not just the failure of Naomi. To say the fault is Naomi’s is to beg the question. We are simply going after the symptom and not addressing the cause. We are like the proverbial ostrich that buries it’s head and believes it’s entire body isn’t seen.
Unfortunately, there were fatal stampedes also in Abuja and Okija about thesame time. If the causes are traced, is there a possibility that we will come to thesame conclusions? My answer will be a YES. May the Lord comfort the families that lost loved ones and reset a haemorhaging system pretending to be full of life.
I found it very inappropriate for President Tinubu to have blamed the incident on the “organisers” even while investigation was still ongoing. To me, Mr President’s hasty conclusion has the capacity to tilt outcomes of the investigation, if I understand our system very well.
On sad days, such as we had, our country should have taken a deep reflection on the state of the nation, rather than trying to pin the blames. What happened was a failure of the process, not just of persons.
A lot of questions come to mind on this Ibadan incident:
1. Did Naomi officially inform the Oyo State Government of this programme ahead of time? YES. She even paid a courtesy call on the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Services to intimate her of the details.
2. Was the venue approved for her to use? YES. Government officials in the Ministry did.
3. Did she inform the Police and other security agencies ahead of the event? YES, she did.
4. If the government was informed, as they were, what was supposed to be their role? Is the government free or culpable?
5. What was supposed to be the role of the security agencies, where 5,000 children (who might be accompanied by 5,000 parents) would be gathered?
6. Is it possible for a private event to be handled like a government event? YES. The personalities involved and the colouration of a private event can turn it to a government event. For instance, when the Akure community invited the Sultan of Sokoto to deliver its annual public lecture a few years ago, the Ondo State government took charge of the event and ensured everything went well. So, a gathering of 5,000 CHILDREN shouldn’t have been taken as a private affair.
7. We were told the stampede occured at about 7am, (without the presence of a single security personnel) when the programme was to start at 10am. So, what time were security men expected to be at a programme scheduled for 10am?
8. What happened to “RAKY” (reconnaisance or combing) of the venue by security agencies a day before? That is supposed to be the standard practice for events with a huge crowd.
9. Where is the place of some parents who allegedly threw their children into the venue unattended? We were told some of the children broke their heads and died from being thrown into the venue by desperate parents!
10. Was it normal for security agencies to plan to arrive at a 10am event by 8am when thesame security agencies usually line the road at 6am for a presidential movement slated for 12 noon? A clear case of inverted priority.
11. How would the release of Naomi on bail impede police investigation that she had to be charged for MURDER (an unbailable charge), so that she could be remanded in prison custody? That charge in itself is a mockery of the legal process and a satire of an unserious nation.
12. Is it not laughable that the Police who clearly has a case to answer in this matter is the prosecutor of Naomi, the organiser?
13. When the Federal Government organised a recruitment programme into the Nigeria Immigration Service in 2014 and several people died during the stampede that attended it, how many people were prosecuted, let alone charged for murder? Perhaps we wouldn’t have had 35 of our promising children gone today if we had taken responsibility and learnt from that incident.
14. If Naomi were the president’s wife in this case, will we be having exactly what we are having?
Fellow Nigerians, it’s high time we began to do the right thing. The stampede shouldn’t have happened in the first place if everybody concerned had taken care of their spaces and taken a bite of their portion of the pie.
If Naomi is answering questions, Oyo State officials (political, social and medical) should also be having their days in court simultaneously. With the huge allocation of security votes, was it too much for the state government to provide first aid kits and ambulances at the venue of this programme where such a large number of CHILDREN would be gathering? Isn’t that part of security? The security agencies should also be answering questions in the court. Some careless parents who turned their children to flung kites should be made to answer questions.
Many have argued that these stampedes are a direct cause of the present harsh economic realities in Nigeria and I believe this is true, to a large extent. Though the government does not want to hear this. People don’t get desperate for what they can afford.
To avoid a reoccurrence, we need to get serious and confront the truth these stampedes have thrown at our faces. Everybody must own up to their failures and take responsibility. To pin it on an individual is like burying these happles dead children with their hands and legs outside.
We can not continue to make a mockery of our country.
Dayo Awude,
Akure.
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