 Published
June10th, 2010
I just knew that Nigerians would in some way
be made the fall guys for Sunday’s stampede at the Makulong
stadium in Tembisa where the Super Eagles played a friendly
with their North Korean counterparts. I am responding
particularly to Monday’s front page reports in The Citizen
newspaper which tended to blame the pandemonium on an
alleged attempt by Nigerian fans to enter the venue without
tickets. I was there, and I am totally scandalized by the
role played by the hordes of policemen who were on ground at
the stadium. It is also a shame for any report to gloss over
the real issue - negligence and inefficiency exhibited by
the cops. (The reporter has also not got his facts right:
fans were issued with free gate-passes, not tickets!)
I started smelling trouble when, at about 3.00pm, I and
other fans noticed that the long orderly queue of gate-pass
holders had stopped moving. We were standing less than ten
meters from the only entrance being used, and we observed
that NO attempt was being made by the cops to ensure orderly
entry into the venue and the maintenance of the queue
itself. At this time, the situation was still very much
manageable and a group of female church ushers could easily
have got things working again. Much to our surprise and
dismay, the cops (who kept arriving in droves) merely
strolled past the patient fans, went inside the stadium and
stood with hands in their pockets like by-standers. As the
kick-off time approached, some patient fans started becoming
restive and apprehensive. Before long, the queue started
disintegrating with crowds beginning to form around the ONLY
entrance being used. Even at this point, the situation was
not yet out of hand and one could still make out the queue.
Shortly, however, one or two cops feigned a charge at the
growing crowd and sprayed something from an aerosol can. At
the same time, the gate was suddenly thrown open without
regard to those who were on the line. This was what sparked
pandemonium. Anyone can imagine the situation. Some fans
were thrown into panic and started scampering for safety,
while some others took advantage of lack of control and
surged into the venue. In a way, the latter did the wiser
and more practical thing, because going forward presented
the lesser danger of harm. Personally, I only missed being
squashed against barbed wires by about a foot. That no death
was recorded is indeed miraculous.
I cannot find any excuse for the lackadaisical attitude
displayed by the scores of armed policemen on ground, and
there is absolutely no justification for the questionable
attempt of the reporter of The Citizen to brand the fans as
unruly. On the contrary, they were actually generally as
well-behaved as soccer fans can be anywhere in the world.
Many even came along with their children. If blame must be
cast, it should be cast where it is due. Why was only one
entrance used, for instance? Can the cops say they didn’t
expect a large turn-out for such a ‘free-to-view’ game,
given the current World Cup fever? The simple, even if
embarrassing cause of the mayhem was the failure of a group
of cops at elementary crowd-control. A team of boy scouts
would most probably have handled the situation better.
Ome Dede ( omedede@yahoo.com )
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