The 77-year-old Muhammadu Bello, Maiangwan Kobi (Community head of Kobi) in the heart of Bauchi metropolis is still recounting the loss of his 43 years old daughter and her 8-year-old daughter. The ostensibly terrified old man said that the loss would remain in his heart.
It had been reported that eight residents of Bauchi died in the stampede that happened on Sunday morning when a philanthropist, AYM Shafa dolled out zakaat for Ramadan fasting. The crowd who were mostly women died in the process of struggling to receive the money –N10,000.
According to Police, as of Monday, seven deaths were recorded while the AYM Shafa Foundation said that it has visited 8 families who lost their loved ones to the tragedy, Prof. Ahmed Mohammed, the Chairman of the Zaakat distribution said this while speaking with journalists.
Narrating his experience with “I was sad when they brought the news that my daughter Aisha and her daughter died in a stampede. They had gone to collect palliative from Shafa. They left in the morning from my house. They came to me in the morning and told me that they were going to Shafa to collect Zakaat.
“The news was a painful one but I have left it in the hand of God. He is the one that gave them to me and he is the one that has taken them. That’s all. My advice is that whenever people want to do justice to the people, they should collaborate with the government and those in authority, inform them of what he planned to do to assist the people. That is my advice.
“I served the Nigerian Army for many years before my retirement. I have never known anything called palliatives . We used to buy food at subsidized rates but now it has become expensive. We are not blaming anybody for what is presently happening in Nigeria but the government of the day should be held accountable. They are the ones that brought about this food crisis,” Bello said.
The Zaakat Distribution Committee blamed the crowd for the incident, saying that most of the people who thronged the venue were invited. “We have earmarked N40 million to be shared with the people. We realised that many of them were struggling to collect first and in the process, they were pushing themselves and the ugly incident happened.
“When I heard that some people have died, we quickly suspended the sharing,” Prof Mohammed said.
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