Rice Buyers’ Deaths at Lagos office Not Caused by Customs – Spokesperson
The Nigeria Customs Service has lamented the tragic stampede that occurred at its office in Yaba, Lagos, resulting in the loss of seven lives during the sale of 25kg of rice to Lagos residents.
According to reports, the stampede occurred as a large crowd gathered at the venue for the sale of confiscated rice at the Yaba office amidst the challenging economic conditions in the country.
Comfort Adebanjo, a member of the All Progressives Congress, along with six others, based on reports, tragically lost their lives while attempting to purchase the rice, which was being sold for N10,000 at the Yaba Customs office.
Oluwafemi Fadahunsi, the coordinator of FKL Ward E1 in Lagos State for the APC, and Adebari Adewale, the Secretary, confirmed Adebanjo’s passing among the seven victims of the stampede.
In the obituary released on Saturday and obtained by Punch Online, the APC expressed profound sorrow over the demise of one of its members, Mrs. Adebanjo Comfort Funmilayo, residing at house number 104, Ibidun Street, near Akinhanmi Street, Ojuelegba.
“She was among the seven victims who died in the course of buying Customs rice at Yaba.
“May God grant all the members of her family and all the residents of Ward E1 the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.”
The Lagos APC Publicity Secretary, Seye Oladejo, informed our correspondent that he could not verify the report regarding the member at the moment.
He stated, “I also noticed it in the news. I’ll attempt to contact the relevant local government. I’m unable to provide a definitive statement on it as I too learned about it from the news. I prefer to hear from our local representatives before making any conclusive remarks. As soon as I gather the details of the incident, I’ll update you,” Oladejo said on Sunday.
While responding, the spokesperson for the Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, blamed the development on impatience on the part of the people who came for the event.
“At a point, they decided to be impatient. When we saw the crowd, we even suspended the collection of forms and said, ‘Let’s give them free’. We did that, we exhausted everything. After exhausting everything and we told them everything had finished, and that they could go, that we didn’t have any more, they persisted. Some of them broke the fence of that place. We had to put some barricades to cover the area. Some of them went and entered the container. At a point, we used our ambulance, and took them to hospital,” he said.
READ ALSO: Palliative: Customs Begins Food Distribution, Sells 25kg of Rice for N10,000
He added, “I don’t really have the statistics of the lives we have lost, but we made every effort for everyone to be orderly and to rescue them. We took them to hospital. What do you want us to do?”
He said the Customs made use of Yaba because it had formerly demolished the place, saying, “The reason we used Yaba was because we didn’t want to endanger our facilities.”
When asked if the deaths resulted from pushing, he answered, “I can’t say. Some of them went and entered the engine container. Did we cause the death of anybody? We didn’t. We made efforts to rescue them because we took them to hospital. We have learned our lessons. We have to go and restrategize on how we’re going to continue and sustain this initiative.”
“It is very unfortunate, it is something that we wish did not happen and we are very pathetic about it. We are with them in this trying situation,” he told the victims’ families.
He said further, “I can neither confirm nor deny the number (of deaths). I don’t have that data now, but that people are saying seven. It’s not true, it’s not up to that number, but even if it’s one, yes, it’s life. But these are the circumstances that led to what happened, they were avoidable.”
A week ago, Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, witnessed a protest against economic hardship. In response, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos introduced measures aimed at alleviating the suffering of the populace, such as implementing three days of office work for civil servants and proposing the establishment of feeding centers.
(PUNCH)
