Stampede In Jos, One Feared Killed

PHOTO: PLATEAU STATE POLICE COMMISSIONER IKECHUKWU ADUBA.

JOS, July 21, (THEWILL) - There was stampede again in Jos this afternoon, as people hurriedly locked up their business premises and ran for safety when it was reported that a fresh crisis had broken out again in certain parts of the town.

One person was said to have died during the stampede.

For almost four hours between 10 am to 2 pm, people ran in all directions not sure where the crisis was said to be happening even as the special task force keeping security in the state swiftly went round the town to ascertain the cause of the confusion.

All shops and banks around major parts of the town like Massalacin Jumaa Street and Ahmadu Bello way closed before noon crippling business activities in Jos. Many ran and picked their children from schools.

Later developments revealed that the panic started around the Nasarawa Gwong area of Jos when a cyclist was said to have been manhandled by some youths in the area for venturing into their quarters and his people mobilized to retaliate.

Another account has it that it was when the corpses of those killed in Mazah last Saturday were being evacuated from the mortuaries for burial that ignited passions and caused many to react seeking vengeance.

Both the STF and the police could not confirm which was the actual source of the pandemonium.

THEWILL however confirmed that the swift intervention of the military task force who kept shooting into the air to disperse any gathering helped to calm the situation.

Lt. Colonel Kingsley Umoh of the STF said he is not aware of any death but that his men were still going round the town.

The bodies of the seven killed in last Saturday’s attack has however being buried in separate burials in Panyam in Mangu local government and in Jos even as religious leaders who conducted the benediction called on the people to be peaceful and leave everything to God.