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Seven Injured in Ibadan Sallah Stampede

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
January 21, 2005
Posted to the web January 21, 2005

By Sina Babasola
Ibadan
YESTERDAY'S Eid-el-Kabir prayers in Ibadan were marred by violence with seven
worshippers injured in a bloody clash between rival factions of the National
Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
Trouble started soon after the Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Alhaji Haruna Suara,
opened the prayers for the Eid-el-kabir. Some NURTW members believed to be
loyal to the detained former chairman of the union, Alhaji Lateef Akinsola, aka
Tokyo, allegedly pounced on sympathisers of the incumbent chairman, Alhaji
Abubakar Tawakalitu.
In the ensuing melee, dangerous weapons like knives and cutlasses were freely
used by the rival groups. At the end of the bloody clash, which occurred some
minutes after 9.00a.m, seven vehicles belonging to worshippers were badly
damaged by the combatants.
Those injured in the clash were rushed to a private hospital on old Ife road
for medical attention. Two of them had deep cuts on their heads. Those on the
danger list, according to the doctor on duty, Dr Olugbenga Fadeyi, were Alhaj
Dauda Agbeniyi and Niyi Ibrahim. The other five persons sustained minor
injuries and were immediately discharged.
While the prayers were on, police and other security men battled to prevent the
escalation of the fracas to the Agodi praying ground. They used teargas to
disperse the drivers and succeeded in arresting 25 of them.
Governor Rashidi Ladoja who joined other faithfuls in the prayers, openly
embraced Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, and former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP,
Alhaji Yekeen Adeojo.
Though the prayer session was peacefully conducted, the Chief Imam, Alhaji
Suara, prayed for the peace and progress of the nation and urged all Moslems
and non-Moslems to imbibe the lessons of the Sallah period. He also asked those
in authority to ensure that they uphold justice in all their endeavours.
2.5m perform hajj
Meanwhile, some 2.5 million Muslims yesterday took part in the "Stoning of
Satan" ritual, as the Islamic world marked the Eid el-Kabir following the
annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The pilgrims were stoning one of the
"jamarat", or three pillars symbolising the devil, in the last ritual of the
hajj that last year saw 251 people killed in a stampede.
Ahead of Eid el-Kabir, the faithful went to Muzdalifa, 10 kilometres from
Mecca, to collect the stones used for the ceremony. Then in Mina, also near
Mecca, the faithful approached the pillars to stone the target. They stood in
ditches several metres deep behind a fence or on a bridge built over the site
for extra security. According to tradition, it is the place where Satan
appeared first to Abraham, to his son, Ishmael, and to Ishmael's mother Hagar.
All three pillars are to be stoned as the ritual resumes today and tomorrow.
Last year saw 251 pilgrims trampled or suffocated to death during a stampede as
they vied to hurl pebbles at the pillars. "Thanks to God, the stoning of the
jamarat is taking place in the best possible manner," Information Minister Fuad
al-Farsi, on the scene in Mina, said. He praised the 28-million-dollar
modernisation programme carried out since last year's disaster to make it
easier for pilgrims to throw their pebbles and the extra cameras installed to
allow the flow to be monitored.
Clinics were opened in the area to help those in need or injured in the event
of a stampede. According to one doctor, Osama Mahjoub, apart from a
septuagenarian who died of a heart attack, the clinics reported no serious
cases. Police helicopters and civil defence, meanwhile, surveyed the area and
the city of tents at Mina.
The hajj reached its climax Wednesday with some 2.56 million pilgrims worldwide
converging on Mount Arafat, according to Interior ministry figures. The
faithful -- men clad in a two-piece seamless white cloth, the women covered
except for the hands and face -- spent the day praying for forgiveness in a
symbolic enactment of the Final Judgement at the scene of the Prophet
Mohammed's last sermon 14 centuries ago.

   

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