Children Funfair Tragedy: I Will Personally Reach Victim’s Families To Assist Them – Obi
The Presidential Candidate of Labour Party in the last general elections, Mr. Peter Obi has promised to get contacts, reach out and engage with the victims in terms of rendering assistance to the victims.
Obi, represented by the National Coordinator, Obedient Movement Worldwide, Dr Yunusa Tanko conveyed his heartfelt condolences over during a visit to the premises of Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan and Patnas Specialist Hospital, Bashorun, Ibadan.
He commiserated with the government and people of Oyo State, especially the families of the victims of the children funfair stampede at Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan.
The Labour Party flag bearer expressed dismay that the search for a basic necessity of life could lead to preventable and avoidable loss of precious lives.
It is unbelievable that people, including children would be stampeded just for basic necessity of life- food”, Obi lamented.
The Labour Party leader while praying for eternal rest for the departed souls, called on philanthropic individuals and organizations to always involve security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC in such programmes involving the distribution of palliatives to forestall future recurrence of such unwanted stampede.
According to Obi, “The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and its states counterparts should be involved, ambulance service should be provided because with the current hardships and hunger in the country, an event of such magnitude will attract huge crowd, which necessitates due diligence in terms of pre-event arrangements, effective crowd control measures and adequate protection are important for the beneficiaries to avoid casualties.
The former Anambra state governor advised governments at all levels not to assume that philanthropic assistance, which ought to be addendum to what government should do are problem solving initiatives, but they should take care of the people’s needs such as food, decent shelter, security of lives and property and other basic necessity of life.
Obi, who cautioned against criminalising the good intentions of the cheerful givers, said investigation into such incidents should be geared towards preventing a repeat of stampede in order not to deter other well-meaning Nigerians and organizations.
