By: Titus Oise, Benin.

The Coalition of Registered Political Parties (CRPP)has condemned the tragedy that occured at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium during the commemoration of the Children’s Day celebration organized by the Edo State government.

According to a terse statement endorsed by the National Chairman of CRPP, Dr.Samson Isibor,”we learnt that some male students of a government secondary school that is notorious for cultism, invaded the venue and allegedly attempted to force themselves on female students, which allegedly triggered the use of pepper spray by bouncers.

“Sadly, over 50 students (mostly female) were seriously injured and collapsed in a stampede resulting from the pandemonium. Videos and pictures of the sad event have since gone viral on the internet, not minding the denial of the government in power.

“This tragedy has again exposed Governor Monday Okpebholo-led government as very weak and lacking in crowd control mechanism, and its failure to protect the children, especially the girl-child. It further exposed the government that prides itself as children and youth-friendly as mere smoke screen. It is now obvious that he(Okpebholo)has much work to do on security in the state as cultism and other criminal activities still fester.

Continuing, Isibor queried the reason a government should use non state actors such as bouncers operated by private companies and are not trained for large crowd control to take charge of a ceremony of such magnitude. “Why should Government House security personnel allegedly authorize the use of tear gas and pepper sprayto disperse unruly crowd that resorted in the pandemonium and the avoidable trampling of innocent students who tried to escape from the stadium.

“CRPP therefore demands an unreserved apology from Governor Monday Okpebholo and his government to Edo children and their parents over this avoidable calamity perpetrated by incompetent State and non-state actors.We demand that the state government foots the hospital bills of the victims and also give them adequate compensations commensurate to their respective losses,”Isibor submitted.

Earlier, the state government had sent clarification on the ill- fated incident at the stadium. According to the clarification statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Okpebholo, Dr.Patrick Ebojele, “the Edo State Government wishes to address some misleading social media narratives about today’s Children’s Day incident at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium. We hereby reject the sensational interpretations, spins, twists, and misinformation that were dubiously orchestrated to give the government a bad name.

“The stadium was filled to capacity with thousands of excited children who came to participate in the day’s activities. The turn out was unprecedented. All the entrances into the facility were opened for children to access the stadium. Some excited children resorted to unruly behaviour at one of the gates, an incident that led to some kind of stampede which necessitated one of the bouncers to deploy the use of tear gas to disperse them. In the cause of the pandemonium that ensued, few students sustained injuries.

“The Edo State government has already authorised investigations into the incident while the bouncer involved is presently being interrogated by the Police to ascertain the immediate or remote cause of the incident. The government wishes to restate its commitment to the safety and security of all including our children”, Ebojele posited.