Pandemonium broke out at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City on Wednesday as several students reportedly sustained injuries after security operatives fired pepper spray and teargas canisters during this year’s Children’s Day celebration.
DAILY POST gathered that the event, organised by the Edo State Ministry of Education, saw several students reportedly collapse following a stampede allegedly caused by the use of pepper spray by operatives of a local security outfit known as bouncers.
It was also gathered that several of the students, particularly female students, reportedly fainted after inhaling the substance, while others sustained injuries after being stepped on during the ensuing melee.
A source who was at the event reported that panic spread across the stadium as students, teachers and parents scampered for safety.
He added that many of the affected students were reportedly rushed to the Edo Specialist Hospital for medical attention.
He explained that trouble started when some male students of Ihogbe College, Benin City, allegedly made inappropriate advances towards female students at the venue.
Meanwhile, a parent who identified himself as Oboh Emmanuel alleged that “the behaviour of some uncultured students attracted the attention of bouncers stationed at the stadium.”
According to him, the affected students later regrouped and attacked the bouncers, leading to a confrontation within the crowded arena.
He, however, alleged that in the confusion that followed, the bouncers deployed pepper spray in an area occupied by a large number of students.
Reacting, the Edo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said reports of mass collapse of children were exaggerated.
Afegbua added that it was a bouncer who used pepper spray and not security agents, as reported by some media outlets.
He said the state Deputy Governor, Hon. Dennis Idahosa, quickly stepped in to avert any tragedy.
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