NLC condemns Sallah tragedy in Ilorin •Wants organisers prosecuted

THE Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the death of women during a stampede at a sallah gathering in Ilorin, Kwara State and called on the authorities to prosecute those responsible for the tragedy.

Vice-President of the NLC, Issa Aremu, told newsmen in Kaduna at the weekend that reported deaths of the aged mostly women in another stampede at a sallah rally at the house of Senator Bukola Saraki of Kwara State in Ilorin on Wednesday is unacceptable.

He said this latest tragedy and human wastage should not be swept under the official carpet of the ruling party in the state while on the contrary, the organisers must be identified and prosecuted for negligence and murder by Kwara State government, failing which the private citizens reserved the right to private prosecution.

 He recalled that there was a similar in 2010 and 2011 at the mandate office of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ilorin under the pretext of an alleged stampede while people were ostensibly collecting gifts at sallah.

He said the recent report of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations disclosed that a total of 842 million people in 2011-13, around one in eight people in the world, suffer from chronic hunger.

“The state government should govern over citizens into prosperity through industrialisation and public works that can create decent mass jobs and incomes for the poor. The poor do not need “charity” and “gifts” paid with public funds. What the people need is work and income generating employment initiated by governments at all levels,” he said.