OKIJA, Nigeria — At least 67 people died in a stampede during a philanthropic program to distribute food and vegetable oil in Okija, a town in Nigeria’s southeastern state of Anambra, police said Sunday. The event was held on Saturday ahead of Christmas celebrations.
Tochukwu Ikenga, the spokesperson for the Anambra state police, confirmed the deaths in a statement, adding that several people were injured and were receiving treatment at local hospitals. The exact number of injured has not been released. Ikenga also stated that an investigation into the incident is underway.
The stampede occurred on Saturday morning during a charity event. The distribution of food items and vegetable oil was intended to support locals in the lead-up to Christmas.
This incident follows a series of similar tragedies in Nigeria. On Wednesday, a stampede at a children’s carnival in Ibadan, a city in southwestern Nigeria, resulted in the deaths of at least 35 people and left six others critically injured. In a separate incident on Saturday, at least 10 people, including four children, were killed, and eight others were injured during a distribution of relief items at a church in the Maitama district of Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
Nigeria’s national police chief, Kayode Egbetokun, has issued a warning against unorganised distributions of aid and funfairs. He stated on Saturday that the increasing number of stampedes, resulting in injuries and deaths, particularly during palliative distributions before Christmas, are “uncoordinated.”
In response to these fatal events, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has called on state and local authorities to implement strict crowd control measures nationwide. Tinubu stated on Saturday, “Local and state authorities should no longer tolerate operational lapses by organisations and corporate bodies involved in charitable and humanitarian activities.”
