The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it has shut down eight illegal rice shops and a warehouse in Karu LGA of Nasarawa state.

A statement by the agency on Friday said officials  also seized “over 1,600 bags of counterfeit rice worth N5 billion” at Wuse and Garki markets in Abuja.

Kenneth Azikiwe, head of NAFDAC’s FCT directorate and leader of the operation, said the agency’s officials discovered counterfeit rice being repackaged in branded bags.

“Upon receiving these intelligence tips, NAFDAC Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, issued a directive that only safe, quality, and wholesome food products should be available to Nigerians during the yuletide and beyond,” he said.

“She specifically instructed that those counterfeiting popular brands of rice should be arrested and their products removed from the market.

“This act of counterfeiting rice is illegal. Consumers believe they are buying quality products, but the quality is often substandard.”

Azikiwe said after surveillance activities, the agency uncovered facilities where a woman specialised in repackaging popular rice brands for sale to the public.

He said the counterfeiting was only done at night at a warehouse behind the woman’s residential house.

“Once the repackaging is completed, the products are moved to another warehouse during the day for sale to unsuspecting consumers,” he added.

An infant’s tiny shoes, a toddler’s pink heels, and a baby girl’s white cap; this was the scene around Islamic High School in Bashorun, Ibadan, Oyo state, 36 hours after a funfair that was meant to be held in the school premises turned tragic and claimed the lives of 35 minors.

The event, organised by Naomi Silekunola, ex-wife of Ooni of Ife, was intended to cater to 5,000 attendees. It received a good promotion, especially on Agidigbo FM, which is said to be the most-listened-to radio station in Ibadan.

The news of a free event with promises of gifts and scholarships spread quickly, and people thronged from far away to attend.

PEOPLE CAME FROM FAR AND NEAR

Idayat Abubakar, a witness, told TheCable that people travelled from as far as Ogbomosho, Iseyin, and Osun state on Tuesday — a day before the event was meant to commence — and camped inside the school, enduring the crisp coldness of the night.

Abubakar, who lives about 4km away, said she had gone to the place on Tuesday evening and interacted with the attendees who had already arrived. She showed the reporter a video of her and the other women in a merry mood, excited about meeting the ex-queen and enjoying the event.

She said as of 10 pm on Tuesday when she left the school, there were already about 2,000 people in the school, “if not more”.

“If you ask why someone like me was there, the event was not for the poor. For me, it was more or less like fun, like we went for a picnic; we had our dishes and lots of snacks for our kids, watched those that would win the scholarship and made posts on social media. I bought new shoes for my baby and made a new hairdo for her, just for the event,” Abubakar said.

She had invited her sister, who lives at Olodo, 12km away from the school, to spend the night at her place so they could arrive at the venue early enough.

“We got there as early as 5 am. When we arrived, I was number 49 in the queue; my sister was number 50. A woman made us take numbers to keep it organised. Some people had been there as early as 3 am, and some people slept there,” noted.

According to her, Oriyomi Hazmat, CEO of Agidigbo FM, had told the attendees that ticket sharing would begin at 6 am. She said Hazmat did not arrive at the venue until a few minutes before 8 am on D-day, and with his arrival came chaos.

She recollected that shortly before Hamzat’s arrival, some buses had dropped even more people off, further expanding the crowd.

‘THERE WAS NO SECURITY TO CONTROL THE CROWD’

“Immediately he got to the scene, people started hailing him. When he saw the crowd, he put his hand on his head. They had to smuggle him inside. While opening the gate for him, people rushed in and started falling on themselves. There was no security, no police,” Abubakar said.

“My younger sister got injured; she was stepped on with her baby. Till now, she has not recovered.

“A lot of us were trapped with our babies. I was backing my baby, and my sister was holding hers. So, when they pushed her, she fell on the floor. She fainted twice, and when I saw her, they were already pouring water on her head. At one point, the baby could not even breathe.

“They opened the walkway gate when the stampede started at the main gate. I was at the front of the gate, so I was able to walk in unhurt.”

Hamzat was said to have tried to manage the crowd from the gate’s entrance but was overwhelmed. Together with the officials he arrived with, they rescued some fallen children.

“When he could not control the crowd anymore, he and his boys had to jump the fence to control people from behind. But at this point, it was already out of control. He started hitting people with a big stick to stop them from falling further on those at the front,” Abubakar said.

“That was when I started hearing different things. We started seeing casualties; people fainted, lost their phones and belongings, and people fell on their children.”

Abubakar’s sister told TheCable that at some point, she had to bite some people to get them off her after she fell.

“People started climbing on our heads. I didn’t even have the energy to help myself, and I was carrying my 2-year-old baby. I was even biting some people because I didn’t have the strength to stand up and rescue myself. My daughter was crying; I was crying, but there was no one to help us,” the sister said.

“Oriyomi started pushing people to leave the road; some were jumping the fence. When I entered, I fainted. People were beating my chest and pouring water to revive me. Little children also fainted, and people were looking for their kids.”

Another witness, who identified as T & K, said the setting-up for the event was yet to be done when the incident happened.

According to him, the trucks bearing the gifts and refreshments could not access the school gate as the crowd blocked it.

He blamed the tragic turn of events on the impatience of the attendees.

When TheCable visited the University College Hospital (UCH), where some of the victims were rushed for medical attention, Funmilayo Adetuyibi, spokesperson for the facility, said five children were brought in dead immediately after the incident.

He said no patients were being tended to at the facility at that time and that relatives of the victims had recovered the corpses.

The security personnel at Best Western Hospital, Bashorun, told the reporter that there were also no victims at the facility. He said the patients brought in had either been discharged or transferred elsewhere.

The Oyo state police command said six people were critically injured and receiving treatment.

It added that Silekunola and seven others were arrested for their role in the event.