Stampedes: Nigerians being pushed to death because of hunger — Kenneth Okonkwo
By Jeffrey Agbo
Legal practitioner and former Labour Party chieftain, Kenneth Okonkwo, has blamed the recent stampedes in Anambra and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on widespread hunger and desperation among Nigerians.
The tragic events, which occurred during food distribution efforts on Saturday, left scores dead and others injured, plunging the nation into mourning.
While President Bola Tinubu attributed the incidents to poor organisation and indiscipline, Okonkwo argued that the root cause lies in the worsening economic hardship.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Okonkwo said, “This president shifted all the responsibility to the organisers, people who wanted to help people who are hungry. Let me tell you: this stampede happened in the east. It happened in the west. It happened in the north. That means it’s now a general thing that Nigerians from all sectors are hungry and things are hard.
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“They did not die in stampedes because they were poor. Poverty exists in every country. They died in a stampede because they were desperately hungry.”
Okonkwo criticised the government, claiming the worth of life under Tinubu’s administration has been reduced to “₦5,000 and some grains of rice.”
He also condemned the president’s self-assessment during his first presidential media chat where Tinubu rated his government as “excellent,” calling it a misjudgment.
Okonkwo claimed Tinubu has done the “worst job by any president since independence,” faulting his policies including the removal of the fuel subsidy, which he claimed has exacerbated the economic challenges faced by ordinary Nigerians.
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