How many really died at PDP Rally?

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP rally has come and gone in Port Harcourt but will be remembered more for the souls that died rather than political statements made by either the president, Goodluck Jonathan or governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.

But there have been conflicting reports as regards the number of deaths in that stampede at the stadium.

The police report first said there was no death just injury to a couple of people and then the same police later said 2 deaths, then 4 and eventually 14, but how many lives did the PDP rally claim?

Wezinareports.blogspot.com spoke with a member of the Rivers State Road Traffic Management Authority, TIMARIV and he spoke under the condition of anonymity.

“Forget the figures given to you by the police because they never tell it like it is. I was there and I counted 7 bodies before I left the stadium when I couldn’t bear the sight any more.

“I however spoke with my boss who was there until the end and he said thirty people died in the incident,” our source said.

There are also conflicting reports as to the cause of the stampede.

The first say they wanted everyone to stay until after the president’s speech and when people started to leave they wanted to force them back and in order to do that a policeman shot his gun in the air causing the stampede.

Another version goes that a politician threw money in the air and as people scrambled for it police men on horseback rode their horse into the crowd in a bid to send them back.

Rivers State commissioner for information, Ibim Semenitari,who said she was an eyewitness told the press at government house that the situation escalated because  because the plice at the gates shot into the air to disperse the crowd leaving.

She said most of the people who came from other states began to leave with their governors before the president’s speech and the police shot in the air to disperse them.

She however would not say who gave the other to shoot in the air.

Our source at TIMARIV admitted that he never heard a gunshot but he knew that all gates at the stadium were locked because they didn’t want people to leave until after the president’s speech.

“There was only the small gate behind the stadium left open and thousands of people at the rally wanted to leave through that gate.

“We told them it was so wrong but they insisted that everyone must stay until after the president’s speech. It is just sad that such happened here,” he said.

The PDP women leader at Ubima, governor Amaechi's home town is said to be amongst the dead while the governor's sister was also injured in the stampede.

Meanwhile, another incident not reported was one that involved 4 soldiers on the convoy of the president who died just before they got to the stadium.

In their reckless way of driving they were involved in a terrible accident along Aba road (around the NDDC headquarters).

Though that incident was not reported, wezinareports.blogspot.com can reveal that four soldiers from the president’s convoy lost their lives in the tragedy.