A tragic incident unfolded at the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Zonal Office on Harvey Road, Yaba, as the service initiated the sale of 25kg rice at N10,000 to address the food crisis in the nation.
Amid the orderly proceedings, chaos erupted around noon when the crowd swelled beyond control, overpowering the Customs personnel.
Pandemonium peaked at 1 pm when armed military personnel arrived, resorting to horse whips, tear gas, and electric shockers to disperse citizens vying for rice bags.
Regrettably, a pregnant woman and six others are feared dead in the stampede.
Also, an X user, @BishopPOEvang, posted a short video clip where one of the victims was carried into a Sienna bus by onlookers to be taken to the hospital.
According to the News Diet, an eyewitness, Comfort James, said: “You can see videos of the stampede online on X, but I tell you it was worse in reality. I got there by 11am and met an uncontrollable crowd. Customs tried everything they could to control the crowd but couldn’t succeed. It wasn’t organised as we thought it would be. Police came, but they didn’t come to aid the distribution, they came to collect bags of rice for themselves.”
“When I got there, only few soldiers were there, but more came in their numbers by 1pm. They were over 50 officers, and they started using whips and electric shockers to disperse the crowd. They started hitting people, pushing people to force their way in just to collect rice. They collected rice for themselves and give to their friends.”
“Amid the rush and struggling, a wall fell on over 15 people, and some were severely injured. Armies were still flogging the people that fell. It was at that period that, Customs carried those who injured and gave them rice for free without the N10,000 payment. I saw a woman fall, and her mouth started foaming like she was epileptic. She was carried away in an ambulance.”
The 27-year-old woman expressed her dismay over individuals trampling and crushing others in their rush to enter the premises.
“I heard the noise of people saying some people died, but I left and went home thinking about the tragic experience,” she said.
Efforts to obtain an official response from Customs through the National Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Maiwada, proved unsuccessful as he was unreachable until the time of the press deadline.
A customs officer present at the event informed News Diet that the distribution process had initially been successful earlier in the day but was disrupted when armed military personnel arrived and demanded rice bags.
The source mentioned that attempts were made to persuade the Army officials to return to their barracks for the rice delivery, but they insisted on collecting the rice at Yaba.
Despite the challenges, the Customs source asserted that the Service considers the objective of reaching over 4000 Nigerians, including more than 70 physically challenged individuals, with the food items as fulfilled.
Tragically, victims of the stampede have been reported dead on various social media platforms.
Dr. Adunola @yemoka on X disclosed that a man rushed into her hospital succumbed to injuries hours later.