President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said he would come up with a programme that would honour the memories of those who died in a stampede at the presidential campaign rally in Jalingo last Thursday.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who led a presidential delegation on a condolence visit to the Taraba State government and families of the victims gave the president’s commitment while addressing the families in Jalingo.
Mustapha said that the victims, who were ordinary Nigerians without any key stake in government, had made the ultimate sacrifice in a bid to entrench democracy and the only way to honour their memories was to bring about policies that would deliberately target and better the lot of the ordinary people.
He urged the families to accept the deaths as an act of God and prayed for the fortitude to bear the losses.
“Let me first of all register our deepest condolences to the Taraba State government generally and the families of the victims of Thursday stampede at the presidential campaign rally in Jalingo. We pray that God will grant their souls eternal rest.
“The incident of last Thursday was most unfortunate, but we need to understand that the victims made the ultimate sacrifice in the course of entrenching democracy and the only way to honour their memories is to put in place policies that would affect the lives of the ordinary people tremendously.
“Let me assure you that we would do this when I am re-elected as the president in honour of their memories. Their death would not be in vain.”
Our correspondent reports that the delegation also visited the Taraba State governor, Darius Ishaku and other victims who were currently undergoing treatment at the Federal Medical Center, Jalingo.