Follow Us on Google
By Oluseye Ojo
On Wednesday, December 18, 2024, a charity event meant to spread joy among children, instead became a catastrophic tragedy that left 35 children dead and numerous others injured.
The children’s funfair was organised by Wings Foundation, founded by former wife of Ooni of IIfe, Prophetess Naomi Silekunola, and its media partner, Agidigbo FM, founded by Alhaji Oriyomi Hamzat
Wale Musiliudeen, a parent, lost his 10-year-old daughter, Shofiyat Musiliu, to the stampede.
His words: “My wife took four children to the funfair. She left with the children for the event around 5:00a.m. At approximately 7:30am, she called me. She informed me that Shofiyat fainted and that she has been rushed to the hospital.
“I dressed up quickly and hurried to the venue of the funfair for children. Then we received a call from the hospital that our daughter has died.
“We cried but we accepted the will of Allah. So, we brought her body home the following day, which was Thursday, and we buried her the same day.”
A 30-year old woman, who introduced herself as Iya Ayomide, recounted how herself and her two children, who are seven and three years old, cheated death during the stampede.
“There were too many people there. But all of us were at the gate. The gate was not opened for us.
“When Oriyomi Hamzat arrived, the gate was opened for him, and he entered the school premises. It was then that he instructed the people at the gate to open the gate and allow everyone to come inside.
“Those of us outside were about 10,000. It was in the process of entering that the stampede occurred.
“As the gate was opened, and all of us outside surged forward to enter at the same time, we fell on one another.
I also fell down with my child. The people were marching on my head and my baby. Even the people marching on my child were up to six.
“That was the same way people were also stepping on other people who also fell. The children that died were many.
My child is three and half years old. I went to the place with two of my children.
I am a hairdresser. I did not plan to attend the programme, but my neighbours persuaded. They said the organisers of the event would give children gifts.
“After the incident, I regretted going to the programme. I will never do such a thing again in my life. Even, if they want to distribute one million naira each, I will not go again. I will never try it.
“I thank God that he saved my life.
Other News
But how did she escape with her two children? She explained: “My first child is seven and half years old. I thank God nothing happened to him.
“Then, my second child, who is three and half years old. I carried my child in my hand. But when the pushing was much I fell down with the child. Then, people started stepping on me and my lovely child.
“I was running out of strength, too, on the floor. Then, I used the last strength that I had to move closer to where people were marching on my baby. I discovered that some people had also fallen on my baby. I did not know what came over me. I started biting the legs of those people that fell on my baby.
“They, too, said they were sorry, that they were weak and they could not stand up. Suddenly, I saw Ogidan, who is second in command to Oriyomi Hamzat. I bit his leg and he looked down. I told him my baby is under the people that fell down. He helped me scrape off the elderly people that fell on my baby. That was how my baby was rescued. The child was rushed to the Adeoyo State Specialist Hospital, Ibadan.
“My baby had fainted then. But one woman helped me to carry my child.
We came to the place from Agbowo. We were four that brought our children together. We hired a vehicle that conveyed us from Agbowo to Islamic High School, Basorun. One of us lost her child to the stampede. The other two, nothing happened to their children.
My first child who was not marched on suddenly became very weak. But people around got milk for him and he became okay.
“I am 30 years old, and I’m from Ibadan. People know me as Iya Ayomide in Agbowo.”
Another victim of the stampede was identified as Mariam Salawu. She reportedly took four children to the event and returned home with three. One of her children, six-year-old Ayomide, was crushed during the stampede
Communities live in fear
Attempts to get more victims to narrate their experiences were not too successful. A visit to communities such as Idi-Ape, Odejayi on Old Ife Road, Oke Adu, Irefin, and Oje towards meeting some survivors and parents that lost their children to the stampede did not yield much fruits. Residents of the communities were scared that talking to the media could land them in trouble.
At Odejayi community, the reporter engaged some shop owners on the stampede at Islamic High School. Basorun. He was directed to a house where a woman that reportedly lost two children lived.
On getting to the house, the reporter was met with a stiff response. A woman, selling sachet water in front of the house remarked: “Why did you have to come to our house to make such enquiry? Who told you that somebody living in this house went to collect free food in that place? Do you want the police to come and arrest us here the way they have arrested Oriyomi Hamzat?
“Mr. Journalist, I do not mean to embarrass you. But the truth is that I did not go to that place, and I am not sure that I know anyone that went to the place in this house,” she said.
The reporter also went to Olorunbo area in Basorun with a view to meeting some of the survivors. Residents of the five houses visited in the community said none of them went for the programme.”
Efforts made to get victims and survivors at Irefin, Kudeti and Oje axis also did nor yield positive results. People spoken to simply said they did not go for the programme and they did not know anyone that attended the funfair.
One of the residents of one of the buildings close to Irefin Junction along Agidi Gate -Oje Road, who introduced himself as Ibrahim Adeoke, said: “I don’t know of anyone in Irefin that lost a child or children to the stampede.”
