The last one week have come with heart wrenching stories across three different locations in three different geopolitical zones in Nigeria and the three are similar and all points to the general malaise and economic realities of the time in Nigeria.
In Ibadan, the capital of the old Western Region what was suppose to be a celebration of love,spirit of giving and merry making became an harvest of death,tears,sorrow and a cacophony of sounds from gnashing of teeth. The organizer ex-wife of the Oni of Ife, Naomi had organized what she called 5000 for 5000 whereby 5000 kids below the age of thirteen were to be given 5000 each.
With adequate publicity on radio station by Agidigbo FM where she was hosted by Oriyomi Hamzat of “E gbenu si mic” fame and phrase, the programme attracted the attention of the Hoi Polloi of the society and it was not a surprised that they turned up in huge numbers.
The freebies were to be distributed by 8AM on 18/12/2025 but by 5AM the venue was already bursting at the seams with people.It was only a matter of time,the organizers lost control of the crowd and there came the deaths.35 kids gone for the equivalent of $3 each.What a tragedy.
Similar events occurred at Maitama in Abuja where the people slept overnight for the give away and Okija in Anambra where the angel of death came visiting also.
However, these three tragic events points to the level of extreme poverty ravaging the land,poor crowd control measures in our country, low or near complete absence of functional emergency services and the failure or inability of our people to be organized.
Also, there are lessons to learn from these, but I doubt if those concerned will pick up any lessons drawing from previous experiences. May God forgive the dead and heal our land.
Edited By: Muideen Adio
