No fewer than five persons died on Thursday during a stampede at the Jolly Nyame Stadium in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital during the presidential rally of the All Progressives Congress.
An eyewitness, Tanko Yusuf, told one of our correspondents that the stampede happened as President Muhammadu Buhari was entering the stadium and the party’s supporters, who were locked outside, were trying to catch a glimpse of the President.
He stated, “I was standing at the popular stand of the stadium when suddenly I saw some people going down and being trampled upon by a mammoth crowd who forced their way into the stadium as the President’s convoy was making its way into the arena.
“I can’t confirm how many people were killed in the stampede, but many people were rushed into an ambulance and other security vehicles after the incident.”
Although the state Police Commissioner, Mr David Akinremi, and the Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, David Misal, did not respond to calls to their phones, the Public Relations Officer of the state Specialist Hospital, Mrs Dorcas Philemon, told journalists that five corpses were brought to the hospital.
“Five corpses believed to be supporters of the All Progressives Congress were brought to the hospital and deposited at the morgue,” she said.
The Punch
