The Oyo State Police Command says it is investigating the circumstances surrounding the alleged death of 32 children during a stampede at a funfair in Ibadan, the state capital, on Wednesday.
It was gathered from multiple eyewitness accounts that the stampede occurred when participants rushed to gain access to the venue of the event reportedly organised by the ex-queen of the Ooni of Ife, Prophetess Naomi Shikemi, and an Ibadan-based broadcaster, Oriyomi Hamzat.
Investigations also showed that the victims were stampeded to death while trying to break through the main gate of the school.
It was further gathered that provision was made for 5,000 children but the number that turned up for the event was reportedly over 7, 500.
Narrating the scenario in a video, an eyewitness at the scene of the incident, who did not mention her name, noted that the organisers had invited 5,000 participants for the funfair but the situation got out of control when the scene became rowdy leading to a stampede that led to several casualties.
She said, “Oriyomi Hamzat said he wanted 5,000 participants but because we were not organised, that was why the situation got to this. We were not even up to 5,000 participants.”
Another participant claimed he lost a child during the incident.
“Rather than attend to us very well, they wanted to fight us. We just lost one child who has been taken to the University College Hospital,” he said.
The video showed rowdy scenes as some children were rushed out of the venue while a woman wailed about the loss of her child following the stampede.
Reacting to the incident, the management of Agidigbo FM, owned by Oriyomi Hamzat, sympathised with the victims in a statement signed by its Director of Programmes, Olayinka Abdulwahab.
Abdulwahab, however, stressed that the radio station was a media partner to the event and not the organiser of the funfair.
He stressed that the management made frantic moves to sensitise the participants when it realised that the venue was crowded.
