Nigeria: Police Arrest Priest, Others Over Abuja Stampede

Authorities from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Deliver hold taken into custody the parish priest and several other officers of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Abuja in reference to a tragic stampede that happened within the Nigerian capital.

The police are investigating this incident and two identical events in Anambra and Oyo states. The stampede in Abuja, which took space within the future of a grocery distribution match for the needy within the church’s automobile park on Saturday, resulted within the deaths of now not decrease than 10 people.

A Catholic priest first disclosed the news of the arrests on Wednesday sooner than legit police confirmation. In response, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of the Abuja Diocese launched a Christmas message titled “Christmas: A Season of Hope and Renewal,” condemning the arrests. He described the actions as counterproductive and lacking compassion, questioning the intent within the encourage of such measures.

Kaigama told government officers to toughen the church and these plagued by the tragedy in its do of threatening lawful action.

Josephine Adeh, a spokesperson for the FCT Police Deliver, confirmed the arrests, citing negligence on the section of the match organisers. “How can you host an event of this scale without notifying the police? Ten lives, including those of children, were lost, and many others were injured. Doesn’t this warrant arrest?” she puzzled.

When requested if the priest became among these detained, Adeh said, “I cannot confirm if a priest was arrested unless he was directly involved in organising the event.”

President Bola Tinubu also weighed in on the subject, blaming the match organisers in Abuja, Oyo, and Anambra within the future of his first presidential media briefing. He said that the tragedies stemmed from miserable planning by these to blame. “This is a grave error on the part of the organisers,” he remarked.

In total, over 60 people, including kids, hold misplaced their lives within the future of the three incidents.

Witnesses to the Abuja stampede reported a surge of of us at with out a doubt one of the principal church’s gates as crowds attempted to enter the premises around 4 a.m., hours sooner than the distribution began. A survivor, who preferred to stay nameless, defined that the chaos ensued when many attendees refused to present a line for the distribution.

A security legit from the parish noted that greater than 3,000 of us, primarily from nearby areas much like Mpape and Gishiri, had gathered for the match. Moreover the fatalities, many others sustained injuries within the future of the stampede.

On Monday, Abdulrahman Mohammed, Appearing Director of the FCT Emergency Management Department (FEMD), informed reporters that all people injured within the incident had since been discharged from the clinic. In gentle of these events, the police hold applied recent pointers for organisers of abundant gatherings.