Akwa Ibom State government has debunked the rumours of deaths and stampede during the opening ceremony of the ultra modern Ibom International Stadium in Uyo.
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Aniekan Umanah, while speaking with sports journalists, who were present at the event, on the news doing the rounds via the internet that two deaths were recorded due to stampede described the report as complete falsehood, intended to discredit the successful event that has attracted commendations from around the world.
According to him: “though there were cases of exhaustion and tiredness due to the massive crowd that turned out to part of the grand occasion, no death was recorded throughout the event that lasted for about seven hours.”
Umanah maintained that the robust medical team of over 100 specialists and ambulances on standby, effectively took care of the few cases of exhaustion and minor injuries that arose during the occasion.
He stated that all the 30,000 seats at the stadium were filled by 4.00 p.m adding that the excited crowd of Akwa Ibom people outside of the stadium was successfully persuaded to leave the venue and be part of the ceremony through the various viewing centres provided in the state capital by the government or from their homes through the different television channels that beamed the event live.
He wondered why enemies of progress will seek to diminish the success of the ceremony that had President Goodluck Jonathan and his counterparts from Ghana, Dr John Mahama and that of Cote d’Ivoire, Dr Alassane Outtara, among other dignitaries in attendance.
Maintaining that the stadium was designed to evacuate its 30,000 capacity spectators through its various exits and terraces within five minutes, Umanah challenged those behind the false report to “produce the names and pictures of those they claimed died during the commissioning of the stadium, or name the hospital or morgue where the purportedly dead were taken.”
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