The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, on Sunday expressed sadness over the stampede that led to the death of 30 persons in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday. The part said it received with extreme sadness the news of a stampede that resulted in the unfortunate loss of over 30 lives at the Polo Club, Port Harcourt, on Saturday morning, where a crowd had assembled to receive some form of empowerment through free shopping for sundry items offered by an evangelical church.
The APC in a statement on Sunday by the State Publicity Secretary, Senibo Chris Finebone, expressed anguish and sorrow over the incident, lamenting: “it is heartbreaking that a supposed well intended programme of the church to save lives resulted to loss of same lives.”
The Rivers State APC declared in the statement: “While we appreciate churches and other voluntary organizations that strive to fill in the gaps that exist in the living conditions of the poor of society, we make bold to insist that such organizations should embed safety considerations into whatever they do. We know how our entire society treats issues of safety with indefensible levity and this has remained the major cause of avoidable disasters across our land.
“We cannot pretend to appear surprised that no word has come from the governor of the State from the sideline of his Party’s Presidential Primary taking place at Abuja even as we believe that security report of the sad incident has reached him since morning. Not when the governor sees himself as the Chief Executive officer of politics and not the Chief Executive Officer of governance in Rivers State.
“We send our most profound condolences to the families that lost their loved ones to the sad incident this morning; the clergy and members of Kings Assembly Church and pray that God would receive and grant eternal rest to the souls of the departed.”