A democracy focused Non-Governmental organization, the Human Rights Writers Association, has instituted a petition before the Nigeria Human Rights Commission, urging the Executive Secretary, Prof. Bem Amgwe, and the Governing Council, headed by the Chairman, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, to investigate the remote and immediate circumstances surrounding the recent deadly stampede in Uke, Anambra State, during a Christian night vigil worship session in which over 28 persons reportedly lost their lives.
Besides, HURIWA has decried what it called the unending senseless and insensitive dancing on the graves of the departed worshipers, who perished in the stampede penultimate Saturday at the Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry, by Anambra State politicians of diverse platforms.
It also urged the Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, to publicly apologise to the people of the state for his administration’s failure to institutionally set up a workable agency for emergency and accident rescue missions, which would have reduced and or eliminated the high casualties recorded during the unfortunate stampede.
In a statement endorsed jointly by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Director of Media, Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said it amounted to grave dereliction of duty on the part of Obi and the Anambra State House of Assembly for abysmally failing in the last eight years to establish the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency.
To safeguard the people of Anambra State from ever witnessing such a deadly but avoidable human disaster, the rights group said it was imperative for Obi to immediately set up a structure and work out a transparent mechanism for the payment of proper financial compensation to surviving relatives of all the 28 worshippers that reportedly died.
HURIWA said it has lost confidence in the neutrality of the Anambra State Government setting up a probe panel hence it has urged the National Human Rights Commission to step in and begin independent and comprehensive probe of the entire circumstances surrounding the stampede.
HURIWA also condemned the poor emergency rescue mechanism in place in Anambra State and advocated the creation of a vibrant and well funded state emergency management agency patterned after the National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria.
The group said since the welfare and security of the citizenry was the prime constitutional obligation of government, it is inconceivable that such a monumental spiritual event in Anambra State was not attended by sufficiently equipped state-run emergency management and rescue agency.
On the deadly stampede penultimate weekend, which resulted in the death of 28 worshipers, the rights group said posterity and history will be very harsh on Obi and Anambra State opposition politicians should they continue to play dirty partisan politics and engaging in meaningless media warfare with this unfortunate loss of precious lives of citizens and fail to objectively probe and determine to its finality the causes of that sad incident and proceed to prosecute all indicted culprits who precipitated the deadly stampede upon completion of the independent investigation by the National Human Rights Commission.
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