Falana demands compensation or he will sue Customs to court
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Femi Falana, SAN has asked the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to compensate the families of seven people killed during the rice distribution stampede in Lagos last month or face legal action.
NCS on February 23 began distributing 25kg bags of rice to poor people in the Lagos Area at its Zonal Headquarters in Yaba as part of government measures to ameliorate hunger over which protests have sprung up in many states.
The distribution witnessed a stampede in which seven people died.
Falana – Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) – urged the NCS in a statement to lift the suspension of the distribution of the remaining bags of rice without any further delay.
“It is sad to note that the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service have not deemed it fit to identify the bereaved families of the deceased and commiserate with them.
“As a matter, the deceased persons have been blamed for their impatience.
“Since it is common knowledge that similar distribution of food items to poor people had recorded stampedes in the recent past, the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service must accept full responsibility for the blatant negligence that led to the avoidable death of the seven citizens.
“Since a bag of rice was selling for N77,000 at the material time, it ought to have occurred to the Nigeria Customs Service that its Zonal Headquarters in Yaba would not be able to contain the crowd that had been invited to purchase a 25kg bag of rice at N10,000.
“Therefore, the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service should take urgent steps to identify the bereaved families of the seven deceased citizens to pay them adequate monetary compensation.
“However, if our advice is ignored by the authorities, we shall not hesitate to approach the Federal High Court to enforce the fundamental right of each of the deceased persons to life as guaranteed by section 33 of the Nigerian Constitution and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
“Furthermore, the Nigeria Customs Service should lift the suspension of the distribution of the remaining bags of rice without any further delay.
“To avoid another stampede, the distribution should be carried out through the appropriate local government councils and local government development areas in Lagos State and other states of the federation.”
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