The Kwara valedictory stampede on May 29, in which at least 25 persons lost their lives, is another preventable disaster recorded in the country recently. According to reports, during preparations for the inauguration of the Kwara State Governor, Mr. Fatai Ahmed, in Ilorin on May 29, 2011, a stampede broke out at the “Mandate House” campaign headquarters of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), leading to loss of lives.

Further investigations revealed that the stampede was as a result of the scramble by the party’s faithful to collect a largesse of N5, 000 and six yards of Ankara cloth to be sewn and worn for the inauguration ceremony. It is particularly embarrassing and unacceptable that the same political party, the PDP, that had suffered a similar fate in Port Harcourt during the nationwide campaigns leading to the April polls could allow a repeat calamity of this magnitude either out of its negligence or lack of organisational capacity for crowd control. In the February 12 stampede at a stadium in the Rivers State capital during President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign rally in the city, eleven people were trampled to death and about 29 others sustained various degrees of injuries. That tragedy occurred as a result of the panic caused by a police officer firing into the air.

While the shots were supposedly intended to control the surging crowd in the 20,000-seat stadium, they instead triggered a fatal stampede through the few exit points that were open. Indeed, such deadly stampedes at crowd pulling rallies have not been limited to the political arena alone. Excessively hyped religious rallies and crusades have sometimes left on their trails similar calamities for impoverished and pauperised Nigerian miracle seekers.

On October 6, 1999, for example, 16 Nigerians died and hundreds were injured during the opening rally of a five-day revival organised by Evangelist Reinhard Bonke, head of the Germanybased Christ for All Nations Ministry. The deaths occurred in Benin City when a surge in the crowd of 550,000 turned into a stampede. After the recent Port Harcourt incident that had ended also in a fiasco, leaders of political parties organizing similar events, especially those at which patronage is to be dispensed to their supporters, ought to be more circumspect and cautious in the choice of venue and in the management of the crowd.

Such precaution was evidently not taken by the planners of the Kwara inauguration preparations. To forestall future stampedes at rallies, it is necessary that where, especially, largesse is to be distributed to large numbers, adequate care should be taken to ensure that proper logistics and safety measures are put in place. Beyond that, the Ilorin incident reflects the socio-economic tragedy that results from the practice of politics characterised by a poverty of ideas and the use of crude patronage that dehumanizes recipients.

In contrast, transformational politics builds institutions and creates enduring structures and infrastructures for empowering the populace towards achieving economic self-reliance. Disasters like the Ilorin stampede establish the need for continuous political and citizenship education in the country, so as to re-direct the people and party leaders away from the politics of the crude distribution of largesse to party supporters. It is time to shift the emphasis to ensuring good governance for all citizens, through the provision of visionary and responsive leadership. If the political leadership in the state institutes programmes that stimulate and sustain job creation, and that diversify opportunities for enhancing the wellbeing of the citizens, fewer incidents of such scrambles for petty largesse will be recorded. We recommend also that compensation be paid to the families of the victims.

Kwara tragedy

ACN calls for inquiry into the mass deaths in Kwara