Stampede at Nigeria church kills 24, injures 17
Print Edition
A stampede at an all-night church vigil disrupted by politicking over a contentious gubernatorial election has killed 24 people and injured 17 in Nigeria’s southeast Anambra state, the Red Cross and government officials said yesterday.
The stampede occurred before dawn on Saturday at an All Saints’ Day open-air vigil organized by St Dominic’s Catholic Church in the town of Uke, according to the deputy inspector general of police, Emmanuel Kachi Udeoji.
Dr Peter Katchy of the local Red Cross chapter said they had a mobile clinic and small emergency station posted at the grounds because more than 100,000 people had gathered for very popular healing sessions by a local priest.
“There was a stampede, everybody said they heard someone crying ‘Fire! Fire!’ and in that stampeding some people were suffocated: 24 persons died there, five males, 19 females,” Katchy said. Another 17 people were hospitalized.
He blamed “an over-large crowd and lack of crowd control.”
Newspaper and TV reports blamed politicking for the November 18 elections.
They quoted witnesses as saying the false warning of a fire was made to try to end a speech being made by Governor Peter Obi, who attended the crusade and was booed as he tried to promote his gubernatorial candidate.
Obi said he left long before the stampede. “I did notice something unusual,” he said in comments broadcast on Channels Television. “When I wanted to speak, a group of people started shouting somebody’s name. I had to curtail them and say we are here to worship. ... At the time I left everything was normal, there was no incident.”
The name being shouted was that of a rival for the governorship, Senator Chris Ngige, witnesses said on TV.
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