The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has arrested the parish priest and officials of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Abuja following a tragic stampede during a charity event that left at least 10 people dead.
The incident occurred on Saturday during a grocery distribution event organized by the church. Witnesses reported that a surge of people at one of the gates led to chaos, with over 3,000 attendees, primarily from nearby areas like Mpape and Gishiri, crowding the church premises.
FCT Police Command spokesperson Josephine Adeh confirmed the arrests, citing negligence by the organisers for failing to notify authorities about the scale of the event. “Ten lives, including children, were lost due to poor planning. Doesn’t this warrant arrests?” Adeh remarked. However, she declined to confirm if the parish priest was among those detained unless he was directly involved in organizing the event.
The tragedy is one of three similar incidents reported recently, with others occurring in Oyo and Anambra states, bringing the total death toll across the three events to over 60. President Bola Tinubu condemned the incidents, blaming poor planning by organisers for the loss of lives.
Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of the Abuja Diocese criticized the arrests in a Christmas message, calling them counterproductive and urging the government to offer support to the affected families rather than pursue legal actions.
Meanwhile, the Acting Director of the FCT Emergency Management Department (FEMD), Abdulrahman Mohammed, confirmed that all injured individuals had been discharged from the hospital. In response to the incident, the police have introduced new guidelines for organising large gatherings to prevent similar tragedies.
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