BY ANKELI EMMANUEL, Sokoto
Not less than nine persons have been reported dead with no fewer than 30 persons suffering varying degrees of injuries when a stampede occurred at the residence of former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamako in Sokoto.
A crowd was said to have thronged the residence of Wamako to collect the handouts of food items, grains, fabrics and money that he hands out at different times, especially during Ramadan periods when the stampede occurred that led to the tragedy.
Senator Wamako’s residence turns to a Mecca of sorts by people who troop to the expansive premises of the philanthropist to receive palliatives of different sorts from him and he has become loved for these acts of charity.
Though up till the time of filling the report, the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Command in Sokoto, ASP Ahmed Rufai said they were still working towards getting the actual number of casualties, eyewitnesses insisted that the dead and injured could not have been less than nine and 30 respectively.
“We are aware (of the tragedy) and we are on it to get the actual number of the dead please,” ASP Rufai replied to inquiry on the actual casualty figures.
But reacting to the tragedy, the Sokoto State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while expressing their deep sadness over the incident, called on the Senator to devise a more humane and responsible manner of assisting the needy rather than subjecting them to untimely death by poor arrangements.
The party, in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Hassan Sahabi Sanyinnawal, also extended its heartfelt sympathies to the families of those who lost their lives in the incident and prayed for speedy recovery for those who sustained injuries.
