The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called on the Nigeria Police to arrest the organisers of the palliative distribution events in Abuja and Anambra, or release those detained in connection with a similar incident in Ibadan.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Executive Director of MURIC, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, condemned the disparate treatment of the same tragic event across three different locations.
MURIC has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of those detained in Ibadan in relation to the tragedy.
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On Wednesday, 35 children tragically died in a stampede at a children’s funfair in Ibadan.
A similar incident occurred on Saturday in Maitama, Abuja, during a palliative distribution event at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, which led to the deaths of 10 people. In Anambra State, at least 20 residents of Okija community reportedly died in a stampede during a rice distribution.
In response to the Ibadan incident, the Oyo State Police Command arrested Ms. Naomi Silekunola, the ex-wife of the Ooni of Ife, and seven others.
A new development emerged when a Chief Magistrate Court in Iyaganku, Ibadan, ordered the remand of three individuals connected to the tragic stampede at Bashorun Islamic High School.
Those remanded include the school principal, Mr. Abdullahi Fasasi; Alhaji Oriyomi Hamzat, the proprietor of Agidigbo FM; and Silekunola. The court ordered their detention at the Agodi Correctional Centre on Tuesday.
Despite this, Akintola emphasized that the Ibadan case should not be singled out or treated differently from the other incidents.
“MURIC is interested in knowing why it was only the organisers of the Ibadan event that were arrested while those in Abuja and Okija were allegedly left free. We therefore demand the immediate and unconditional release of the organisers of the Ibadan event.
“Queen Naomi Silekunola in particular is well known for her philanthropic activities and nobody in his or her right mind will assume that she deliberately planned a massacre.
“By the same token, the arrest of the principal of Islamic High School, Orita Bashorun, Ibadan, was quite unnecessary because the alumni of that school has confirmed that the venue was approved by the Oyo State Ministry of Education and not by the principal acting unilaterally.
“The Obi Jackson Foundation led by Chief Ernest Obiejesi had good intentions as usual but things still went wrong. However, Anambra police did not haul him into detention the way Oyo police detained Queen Naomi and Mr Fasasi, the school principal,” Akintola said.
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The MURIC leader also stated that there have been no reports of any arrests by the Abuja police regarding the stampede caused by the distribution of palliatives at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja, on Saturday, December 21, 2024.
He said, “The Nigeria Police has left many questions unanswered regarding its handling of the three tragic episodes. A stampede is a stampede. One should not be differentiated from the other. Ditto for the issue of deaths. Homo sapiens died in all the events, not goats, not dogs.
“All the organisers should have been treated equally. But as things stand, it appears the sledgehammer descended on Ibadan organisers alone while Abuja and Okija merely vowed to investigate the calamities,” Akintola said.
“There is only one way to go, arrest the organisers of the Abuja and Okija events or set the Ibadan organisers free. The honourable thing the Oyo State Police Command can do is to set those detained free immediately and unconditionally while the state government sets up a panel to investigate the tragedy. The police should not blow hot and cold at the same time,” Akintola said.
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