Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Early morning stampede on Saturday, 21st December, 2024, at the premises of Chief Earnest Azudialo Obiejesi, popularly known as Obi Jackson, has left an unconfirmed number of persons dead during distribution of Christmas palliative especially rice and other consumables.
Ikengaonline gathered that the suspected number of victims is 18 and mainly aged and young women especially widows who had converged in Obi Jackson’s house for the palliative as was customary every Yuletide season.
An eyewitness said stampede ensued following large number of persons who had come for the palliative which surpassed previous years exercises.
An eyewitness said “the multiple deaths of Okija citizens resulted from crowd stampede at ongoing palliatives powered by Okija’s top son, Chief Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi, who has made impact in Okija on several fronts.
“His annual Christmas palliative of distribution of free food items attracted mammoth crowds per year. This year is a never-before-seen crowd that got out of control despite careful distribution of cards to intended recipients. As at now, over 18 deaths have been recorded and several more injured due to exhaustion.”
The victims of the stampede have been deposited at Our Ladies Mortuary, Okija, including a mother and daughter who are relatives of Chief Ken Emeakayi, the Senior Special Adviser to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Community Security among others, while injured ones have been rushed to undisclosed hospitals for urgent medical attention.
Meanwhile, Anambra State Police Command was yet to react to the development but Christian Aburime, the chief press secretary to the Anambra governor, confirmed the incident when contacted.
Aburime said the state government is monitoring the situation and would soon release a statement.
