ABUJA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) — At least 13 people, including four children, were killed in a stampede during a relief item distribution at a local church in the Maitama district of Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Saturday.
Josephine Adeh, spokesperson for the police in the Federal Capital Territory, said in a statement that eight others sustained varying degrees of injuries when the distribution of relief items, including food and clothing ahead of Christmas celebrations, turned chaotic Saturday morning at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama.
“Four of the injured had been treated and discharged, while the remaining victims are currently receiving medical care,” Adeh said, noting the police successfully evacuated “a crowd, numbering over a thousand.”
Padre Mike Nsikak Umoh, spokesperson for the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, earlier told reporters that the event attracted more than 3,000 people from nearby villages and low-income suburbs. Following the “tragic incident,” the “palliative distribution” was suspended, he said.
According to witnesses, many attendees arrived as early as 4 a.m. local time, despite the event being scheduled to start between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday.
In a separate statement, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed another stampede Saturday morning in Okija, a town in the southeastern state of Anambra, where a philanthropic initiative to distribute rice to locals also turned fatal. “The two tragedies claimed many lives and left many others injured,” Tinubu said, canceling his official duties for the day in honor of the victims.
Highlighting an earlier stampede in the southwestern city of Ibadan on Wednesday, which claimed at least 35 lives and left six critically injured, the Nigerian leader called on states and local authorities to implement strict crowd control measures nationwide.
“Local and state authorities should no longer tolerate operational lapses by organizations and corporate bodies involved in charitable and humanitarian activities,” Tinubu said.
