Nasarawa stampede not caused by govt negligence – Gov Sule

• The governor had reportedly ordered the distribution of two 7.5 kg bags of rice and N5,000 to each student of the state university in Keffi

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has said the deaths of two students of the Nasarawa State University during a stampede while palliative was looted in the school was not as a result of government’s negligence.

He stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that the governor had reportedly ordered the distribution of two 7.5 kg bags of rice and N5,000 to each student of the state university in Keffi.

Two students, Grace Danladi and Rose Michael, died in the unfortunate incident, while others were injured during the stampede ahead of the distribution of the palliatives.

In his reaction to the incident, human rights advocate, Femi Falana, in a statement on Sunday, had said official negligence led to the death of the students.

Falana described the death of the students as unfortunate, noting that the authorities of the University failed to draw any lesson from the recent stampede which claimed the lives of seven persons during the distribution of 25kg bags of rice in Lagos by the Nigeria Customs Service.

The senior lawyer, however, said, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the tragic incident, the Nasarawa State Police Command should be directed to investigate the allegations of criminal negligence which led to the unfortunate death of the two students.

Reacting to the statement of Falana, Governor Sule said, “It’s not something that happened on the part of negligence by the government.

“It’s very unfortunate that it happened but it had nothing to do with any planning, it has nothing to do with any negligence. We have been to eight places.

“It was the last place, which would have been the ninth institution that we went to. So, all these other places that we went, everything went so smoothly.”

According to him, the stampede was not because of planning but because some students thought that their names were being replaced by the Students’ Union Government of the institution, hence the anxiety.

Sule said, “We are very sad that two students died. We are talking with the families. So, for somebody to politicise it? It’s unfortunate that we are in a country where everybody looks at a tragedy and politicize it.”