Sorrowful-looking parents and other family members of applicants who died at the National Stadium, Abuja, while seeking employment into the Nigeria Immigration Service have pleaded with the federal government to release the corpses of their love ones for burial.
The bereaved families, who gathered in front of the emergency unit of the National Hospital about 7am yesterday wearing black attire, appealed passionately to the minister of interior, Comrade Abba Moro, who was at the hospital on a sympathy visit, to approve the release of their corpses for burial on religious grounds as they had no police report to tender.
Seven applicants — five females and two males — including a pregnant woman died on Saturday in Abuja as a result of a stampede at the National Stadium venue.
A brother to one of the deceased and lecturer at Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa State, Engr (Dr) Mohammed Hakeem from Kogi State, regretted that his late sister and a mother of one, the late Mrs Oyiza Yusuf, was in 2013 defrauded of N150, 000 for the same job she lost her life on Saturday.
“We came to carry our sister’s corpse but the hospital authority is insisting on getting police report. We don’t want to go violent, we have been tormented enough. Our sister is a Muslim and is overdue for burial,” he stated.
According to Hakeem, the news of the demise of his 34-year-old major family breadwinner got to him through his wife. He lamented that the deceased, who was prior to the tragic examination a business woman, is survived by an aged father and mother who, he feared, may not survive the hard blow.
“My regret is that I had no premonition that the late Oyiza re-applied for the same Immigration job for which she was once defrauded of over N150, 000. I make bold to tell you that the slots for which my sister has been used as a sacrificial lamb had been allocated to those that matter in Nigeria. I am calling on the federal government to be sensitive to the plight of ordinary Nigerians; at least for once it should get things done the right way,” Engr Hakeem said.
I would have stopped her if I knew she was headed to the exam venue. We are not finding this easy. Our parents may not withstand this tragic news. It’s a painful and heart-breaking loss.
He wondered why over 1million Nigerians would be invited to participate in a recruitment exercise that is meant for just 4,000 selected few.
Another candidate who narrowly escaped being hurt, Mrs Abigail Aroniya, but whose younger brother fell victim, slammed the Immigration Service over what she termed as poor coordination as well as the lack of managerial skill to control a few persons.
For Miss Oluwatosin Amoda-Ogun, who was full of praise to God, “the situation was terrible and frightful. All I can remember is that I was gasping for breath and at a time I concluded I was not going to make it before I fainted. My question is, will Nigeria ever get it right?”
Meanwhile, LEADERSHIP gathered from a source close to the stadium authority that it was the failure by the Ministry of Interior to make available the sum of N3million being the fee for using the stadium facility that led to the blatant refusal by the stadium workforce to open up the various gates, to the detriment of the applicants.
“This incident would have been avoided if those at the helm of affairs at the National Stadium had the interest of the Nigerian youth at heart. They insisted that the cash must be made available before the commencement of the aptitude test.
LEADERSHIP observed files, credentials, shoes, bags and other valuables suspected to belong to the victims scattered in front of the gate where the seven applicants lost their lives.
Another source who pleaded anonymity for fear of being sanctioned told LEADERSHIP that the question paper leaked 13 hours to the exam time and that candidates who were jam-packed without supervision only compared the answers and copied verbatim.
The source said, “The questions leaked and, even after copying, we roamed about in search of stapling pin to hold our sheets for safety.”
Stop trading blames, Moro cautions
The minister of interior, Mr. Abba Moro, who visited the scene of the tragedy and the National Hospital, advised Nigerians to desist from trading blames as unauthorised persons took advantage of the ministry’s openness of the exercise to cause a stampede.
The minister confirmed that seven people died and 11 others were being treated at the intensive care unit of the National Hospital. He maintained that everything that was required to conduct a hitch-free exercise was put in place, adding that only 526,650, not 3 million candidates as speculated, got approval for the exams.
“Surprisingly, people who did not even apply, people who are not shortlisted for this exercise turned up yesterday including pregnant women to undertake this exercise, and it is very unfortunate,” he said.
He explained that the choice of stadium was because the test involved physical exercise which is a part for eligibility and enlistment into the NIS. “We didn’t expect what happened yesterday. We expected orderliness based on the logistic arrangement that was put on ground,” he said. “I’m a parent myself. I wouldn’t have deliberately set up a standard that will claim lives. If you look at this gate, there’s a sign that people attempted to forcefully break into the stadium forcefully and in the process they were trampled upon and, unfortunately, some persons lost their lives. I am shocked and speechless because the exercise was decentralised primarily intended to forestall some of this incident that we have recorded today.”
Asked if the victims would get automatic employment, Comrade Abba Moro stated, “It’s premature to talk about settlement and employment. Our primary focus now is to salvage the situation and ameliorate the sufferings of the victims. You cannot cross a bridge until you get to the river.”
He further disclosed plans to set up a high-powered committee that will include members of civil society groups, major stakeholders and others later on Monday. His office will take appropriate action when the committee’s findings are submitted, he said.
Some of the victims receiving treatment at the National Hospital are: Bashu Mohammed from Kaduna; John Oladipo from Oyo; Lula Nancwat, Plateau; Peace Uruk Nduka, Abuja; Atashidu Unaku, Lagos; and Oluwatosin Amoda, Ogun.
Deaths, a direct consequence of PDP’s misrule – APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it is greatly distressed at the deaths of 19 jobseekers at the venues of the NIS job test on Saturday, calling it a direct consequence of 15 years of misrule by the Peoples Democratic Party-led federal government.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its interim national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC said the minister of interior must bear direct responsibility for the needless deaths by immediately stepping down from his post, if he has any honour left, or be fired.
It said, however, that the overall responsibility is that of President Goodluck Jonathan, who now seems to be bent on leaving a dubious legacy of bad leadership that has led to a grim harvest of deaths from insecurity, widespread violence and now job stampede, among others.
APC commiserated with the families of the victims and wished those who were injured a speedy recovery.
“Today, sadly, the truth has been laid bare: 5,000 or so vacancies declared by NIS have attracted over six million applicants, from which over half a million was shortlisted, according to published reports, and the desperation of our youth to eke out a decent living has been exploited by a villainous government that forced each applicant to cough out 1,000 naira, thus raking in N6 billion from jobless people,’’ the party said.
It said that the Ministry of Interior has many questions to answer over the apparently shoddy arrangements made for the job tests in 37 venues nationwide.
‘’Is it true that the minister directly presided over the recruitment and money-making venture? Could this have been part of the government’s fund-raising measures for the 2015 elections? Why will a government seek to profit from a malaise it created by charging hapless job seekers 1,000 naira each? Why was a huge number of applicants invited for only 5,000 jobs or fewer? Why was such a shoddy arrangement made for the test when so many people were invited? Could the test not have been done in batches to avoid a stampede? How much indeed was realized from this glaring extortion of job seekers? What happened to the money? These are some of the questions begging for answers.
Stop playing politics with human lives, PDP replies APC
But the PDP yesterday lambasted the APC for attempting to politicise the death of young Nigerians at a stampede during the recruitment exercise conducted by the Nigeria Immigration Service on Saturday.
PDP’s spokesman Chief Olisa Metuh, in a response to the APC over the unfortunate incident, said the APC has again shown that it lacks respect for human life, adding that its statement lacks class, and politicizing the unfortunate incident was a clear manifestation of its Janjaweed ideology.
The PDP said “it was despicable for the APC to condescend so low to trivialize and politicize weighty issues bordering on human lives while the families of the deceased were still mourning, all in a bid to score a cheap political point.
The PDP described the APC statement as crass, adding that it has further exposed it as a party of insensitive persons blinded by inordinate quest for power.
It also noted that the federal government has already started an immediate response to the incident. Noting that this was not the time to join issues with the APC which it described as “an ill-bred party which has no regard for human life”, the PDP said it will not be distracted by attacks by the APC but will remain committed to curbing unemployment in line with its manifesto and the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan”.
Investigate recruitment tragedy, Tambuwal tells FG
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has asked the federal government to mandate relevant security agencies to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the death of over 27 people during a Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment exercise that took place nationwide on Saturday.
In a press statement signed by his special adviser on media and public affairs, Malam Imam Imam, Tambuwal described as unfortunate the stampede that led to the death of some Nigerians at various employment screening centres of the NIS.
He went further to add that the death of the innocent youths was sorrowful and regrettable, considering the fact that they were at the screening centres in search of jobs that will better their lots and that of their loved ones.
He therefore asked concerned authorities to investigate the remote and immediate cause of the tragedy while mapping out strategies to prevent future occurrence.
Tambuwal also urged governments at all levels to work closely with the organised private sector to tackle the unemployment crisis facing the nation while condoling with the families of those who lost their lives and praying to God will give the injured a speedy recovery.
NHRC chairman, Tofa, Uwais, 52 others demand sack of Moro, Parradang
About 55 prominent Nigerians including the chairman, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, former presidential candidate Alhaji Bashir Tofa, former FCT ministers Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar, senior lawyers and others have demanded the immediate sack of Moro, and the controller-general of the NIS, David Parradang, over the death of jobseekers across the country during last Saturday’s recruitment exercise into the NIS.
The prominent Nigerians, in a statement issued by Odinkalu but signed by 55 of them, blamed Moro and Parradang for the shoddy handling of the exercise and called on the attorney-general of the federation, the inspector-general of police and the director-general of the State Security Service to carry out a joint criminal investigation into the deaths of the jobseekers.
Faulting the interior minister’s reaction to the incident, they noted that rather than blame victims for the unfortunate incident, he ought to have sympathised with the families of the deceased.
“The deaths that resulted from these failures, therefore, were unlawful. If the lives of Nigerians mean anything, the leadership and management teams in the Ministry of the Interior and the NIS must be held to account for these deaths.
“In his reaction to the deaths, Minister of the Interior Comrade Abba Moro accused the victims of ‘impatience,’ claiming that the deaths resulted because ‘they did not follow the laid-down procedures spelt out to them before the exercise.’ The effort by the Minister responsible for citizenship in Nigeria to blame the victims rather than take responsibility shows a callous disregard for the lives of Nigerians incompatible with his high ministerial brief. It brings public service into disrepute,” a part of the statement reads.
“To the families across the country bereaved as a result of these and other ongoing challenges in our country, we take this opportunity to transmit heartfelt condolences and pray for the peaceful repose of the souls of our deceased brothers and sisters.”
The names of those who signed the statement are Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, Dr Ayesha Imam, Dr Jibrin Ibrahim, Dr Ishiyaku Mohammed, Dr Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi, Dr Hussaini Abdu, Mr Femi Edun, Dr Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, Mal. Abba Kyari, Dr Kole Shettima, Mrs Maryam Uwais, Prof. Ebere Onwudiwe, Mal. Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, Hon. Yusuf Tuggar, Mr Yemi Candide-Johnson, Alhaji Tajudeen Fola Adeola, Waziri Adio, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim and Iniruo Wills.
Others are Mrs Ayo Obe, Yunusa Yau, Nasir Ladan, Dr Jeremy Weate, Prof. Nsongurua Udombana, Dr Charmaine Perreira, Saka Azimazi, Dr Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Mrs Funke Adekoya, Jibrin Okutepa, Chief Ziggy Azike, Roland Ewubare, Mrs Stella Ugboma, Prof. Ernest Ojukwu, Chukwuma Odelugo, Dr Solomon Ebobrah, Afolabi Kuti, Mrs Victoria Ibezim-Ohiaeri, Ms Seember Nyagher and Dr Joan Oviawe.
Similarly, Ikeazor Akaraiwe, Auwal Musa (Rafsanjani), Doueyi Fiderekumo, Dakorim Boma Odunuga, Alaezi Nmezi, Dele Aloko, Mrs Ozioma Izuora, Ms Lola Shoneyin, Mal. Bilya Bala, Dr Aliyu Modibbo, Uba Saidu Malami, Obinna Anaba, Ms Wumi Asubiaro, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu and Mr Obi Akaraiwe also signed the statement.
11 still receiving treatment in National Hospital
A visit to the National Hospital, Abuja, yesterday by our correspondent revealed a serenity that was not there the previous day.
No one visiting the hospital yesterday would have an inkling of the high activity that took place last Saturday morning when the hospital was battling with a high number of wounded applicants.
While some of those wounded were treated and relocated to district hospitals in Garki and Maitama, 11 of 40 of those who received high degrees of injuries have been admitted to wards in the National Hospital, Abuja, the director of management information, Mr Tayo Haastrup, told LEADERSHIP.
He said others had been discharged, depending on the extent of their injuries, and assured that the condition of those hospitalized had been stabilised.
Food vendors smile
A line from one of the songs of the once famous Nigerian singer, Felix Liberty, ‘Some are dying, some are celebrating,’ succinctly captured the scenario last Saturday morning at the National Stadium, Abuja.
While many were counting their dead and treating their bruises and hurts, others were also celebrating. For the food vendors, it was celebration galore.
They made brisk sales.
This situation leaves no one in doubt, considering the enormous number of customers the food vendor had to cater to.
The cans, sachets of water that littered the Area 1 expressway leading to the stadium yesterday were all evidence of the volume of sales that took place the previous day.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, one of the applicants, Doris Otobo, said some of the applicants also cashed in on the situation to do business inside the stadium since most of the people could not go out because of the crowd.
According to her, a sachet of water was sold between N20 and N100 while medium-sized bottled water was sold for N200. La Casera was N250, Gala N150 while a small pack of food was N500.
For Otobo, who has been in the labour market now for the past six years, many of the people had no choice especially considering Abuja’s sweltering heat.
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