More than three weeks after more than 31 people were trampled to death at the Port Harcourt Polo Club gate, the official reports on the incident are yet to be released.
The 31 deceased persons were among hundreds of people caught in an early morning stampede at the gate of the Polo Club as they tried to gain entry to the premises to participate in Shop-for-Free, the distribution of free food items provided by Kings Assembly, a Christian organization on May 28, 2022.
The Rivers State Police public relations officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, told National Point that the police would release a comprehensive report after the conclusion of an ongoing full investigation into the incident.
Similarly, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is yet to make public its report on the incident. The South-South zonal coordinator of NEMA, Mr. Usang Usang, told National Point that the agency was still compiling the details of the disaster and how to support the victims and the families of the deceased.
While sympathizing with the bereaved families, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, promised to set up a panel to investigate the incident. This publication gathered that the panel is yet to be set up.
At the Military Hospital, Port Harcourt, where the victims were taken to and the bodies of some of deceased preserved, the authorities promised to make the comprehensive details of the disaster available after they had been processed. “We are a military organization. We don’t release information like that. You have to apply,” an administrative officer at the hospital told this publication. National Point consequently applied but is still awaiting the response of the hospital.
Samuel Orji, whose son died in the tragedy, narrated how his entire family was nearly caught up in the unfortunate incident. He said he had gone very early with his wife, his two daughters and his son to the venue of the distribution. He said while he was able to rescue his first daughter, he could not reach his son, Delight. In the confusion that ensued, the father said he lost consciousness.
“At the time of the incident, there was no police. Only the church ushers were there. It was after the whole thing had happened that the police rushed in and started shooting to disperse the crowd,” Orji said.
Another victim, Adamma Justice said her 11-year-old daughter went missing after the incident. But we could not confirm if she had found her daughter before this report was filed.
Another victim of the incident was Patience Emesiobi, 37, who was the breadwinner of her family. Her brother, Princewill said the family was devastated with her death.
A member of the Kings Assembly told this publication that he narrowly escaped death as he was at the arena very early and he was with his wife.
“Our house is close to the Polo Club so around 4am we started preparing to go there. The programme was for about 9am but people came very early for advantaged positions.
“It was too early for arranged security to be on duty but a large crowd had gathered. The gates were yet to be opened. It was when the small gate was opened to let in exercisers that the crowd began to force its way in leading to the stampede,” he explained.
Kings Assembly, which organized the programme condoled with the families of the victims and promised to stand with them “in this time of their grief”.
The Assembly’s head of administration, Chiemeka Elem, said Shop-for-Free was started by the church in 2014 as part of it outreach programmes. Some have confirmed that the Kings Assembly has held successful free shopping programmes in the past which must have prompted the massive turn-out. People travelled from as far as Abia State and Ekpeye land only to meet their death.
National Point gathered that the package consisted of hampers worth N20,000 of assorted food items as well as electronics and that some church members individually used to hand out as many as 600 of such hampers.
The Port Harcourt Polo Club Field tragedy happened on a day that delegates of one of the major political parties in Nigeria were collecting between $10,000 and $50,000 to vote for a presidential nominees in Abuja.
Fred Odum, a Port Harcourt resident, who commented on the incident, said what happened was a reflection of the contradiction in the Nigerian society. “Fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) is the equivalent of N30 million. That is what presidential candidates were handing over to a single delegate to vote for them when there are millions of Nigerians praying to see their next meal,” Odum said.
Another resident, Patricia Obaa, blamed the Polo Field incident on bad governance. “If the economy was good and the masses had access to food, who would like to go and beg for food. How much food can they even give to them?” she asked.
Disturbed by the horror of the deaths, Nigerians in Diaspora have been calling National Point to understand what happened and what has been done but nothing is happening. One of the callers lost a cousin. Others are wondering when governor Nyesom Wike who had been donating hundreds of millions to disaster hit states in the country will do same for the polo hunger victims.
It was the second time in two years that people were trampled to death at a function organized to give out free food items. The other one was in December, 2020 by an online cooperative platform at Rumuodara, East-West road, Port Harcourt.
