No fewer than five youths were feared killed on Tuesday following a stampede at the Niger State Government House, Minna, during a gathering convened by Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago over a planned Independence Day protest.
It was gathered that more than 5,000 youths had reportedly thronged the Government House for the meeting when a rush for money allegedly being shared by the governor triggered the stampede.
Reports indicated that a number of young people were injured during the chaos that followed, and ambulances took some of the victims to the General Hospital in Minna.
It was also reported that the incident led several families to go to the hospital looking for relatives who had been at the gathering.
A source at the Government House, speaking on condition of anonymity, voiced concern about the large crowd that was permitted into the premises, noting that security personnel should have foreseen the situation.
The source said the crowd grew overwhelming and sparked worries over the lack of sufficient measures to control it.
He stated that, after growing uneasy about the situation, he tried to notify the governor’s chief press secretary but was unable to get through to him.
The source said, “How will a governor allow this large number of people into the Government House and not prepare for crowd control?
“This is deeply unfortunate. Honestly, this country is finished. How did we get to the point where people attend a gathering and families have to start calling hospitals to find out if their loved ones are among the injured?
“Honestly, I think the security personnel at the entrance gates of the Government House, Minna, should be blamed for not being up to their duties.”
In the meantime, a source at the General Hospital in Minna, who asked not to be named, verified that two ambulances had transported injured youths to the hospital.
However, the source was unable to confirm how many victims had been brought to the hospital, noting that doctors and nurses were working to free up bed spaces and care for the injured.
