Presidential rally ends in deadly stampede
... President directs full scale investigation

Posted: Sunday, February 13, 2011

Several people were trampled to death on Saturday in a stampede at an election campaign rally for President Goodluck Jonathan in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt.
Thousands of ruling party supporters crowded into a sports stadium to hear Jonathan speak and hundreds more gathered around the gates. There was a stampede after a policeman fired into the air to try to disperse the crush as people left, witnesses said.
“I can see the bodies of three women,” one witness, Tonye Ben, told Reuters as he tried to escape the pandemonium. Other witnesses said as many as 10 people had been killed.
Members of the security forces lifted those who had collapsed into pick-up trucks to be ferried to hospital. Discarded shoes and pieces of clothing littered the ground where people had struggled to free themselves.
President Jonathan said he was shocked at the loss of life and ordered an immediate investigation.
“I am sad and heavily weighed down by this incident. It is sad, unfortunate and regrettable. I mourn with those who mourn tonight,” he said in a statement.
Police spokeswoman Rita Inoma-Abbey confirmed that several people had collapsed and been taken to hospital but could not immediately give a death toll.
“There was a huge crowd, the place was completely full,” Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jonathan’s Special Assistant on International Affairs, told Reuters.
“As the convoys were leaving, more people were trying to come in and there was a stampede when the gates were opened ... It is a sad end to what had been a great day,” he said.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rally in Port Harcourt came at the end of a week-long tour by Jonathan of the six main regions in the country ahead of presidential, parliamentary and state governorship elections in April.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has received with shock and sadness news of the unfortunate loss of some lives due to a stampede at the Port Harcourt Liberation Stadium, during the flag off of the South-South Presidential campaign.
The president mourns with the families of the deceased, and prays the Almighty to grant repose to their souls. President Jonathan notes with a heavy heart that those were persons who came to celebrate his success at the primaries of the PDP, and wish him well in the coming elections.
“I am sad, and heavily weighed down by this incident. It is sad, unfortunate and regrettable. I mourn with those who mourn tonight. May God grant us all the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss,” he said.
The president has directed a full scale investigation into the cause of the stampede that led to the unfortunate loss of some lives.