Ilorin stampede: ACN demands probe

The Action Congress of Nigeria has called on the appropriate authorities to urgently institute a probe into the May 27 deaths at the Peoples Democratic Party campaign office in Kwara State, as part of measures to prevent a recurrence of such tragedy.

In a statement in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the inquiry would unravel the causes of the tragedy, determine whether or not it could have been avoided as well as those who contributed to it.

It said such a probe was necessary “in view of the claim by the Kwara State government that only two people died, when it was common knowledge that the fatalities exceeded 70.”

‘’Since the stampede in which the innocent souls perished was not the first of its kind in the state, it is necessary to find the root causes of such a senseless wastage of precious lives. If the death of over 30 people at the same venue last year, around the time of Eid-el-Kabir festival, had been properly investigated, this year’s deaths could have been avoided,’’ ACN said.

The party expressed shock at the dismissive attitude with which the state government treated the issue, saying the death of even one person should be of great concern to any government.

Reacting, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, Mr. Wahab Oba, said the government had already directed security ageinces in the state to investigate the incident and that the outcome of their findings would be made public.

Oba said, “The ugly incident is unfortunate and highly regretable and once again the government commiserate with the families of the deceased. The governments has already implored security agents to look into the caused of the matter and come out with the findings which shall be made public to the entire people of the state.

“The governor has also promised that no culprit will be speared but men of the Police are still working seriously to ensure that justice prevailed as government will not tolerate any form of indiscriminate loss of lives and destruction of properties in the state.