JONATHAN AND THE PORT HARCOURT LIBERATION STADIUM Pour water on his head, pour water on his head, God, God, please God, dont let this happen, one woman shouted and panted and prayed. The seemingly lifeless body of my kinsman and community man, Anthony Nsaanee, lay on the ground. Tears welled up in my ears and drizzled down my spine with the fury of pain. He has been crushed down by stampede, and the only time he spoke before his body became still, he lifted up his faint eyes into my face and mumbled inaudibly, Ken, I will not die, I will not die, please help me, and after that, he went still and cold and looked like death. It was in 2011 during Jonathans South-South regional Presidential Campaign held at the Liberation Stadium, Elekahia, Port Harcourt. Enthusiastic supporters had crammed themselves like cartons of sardine into a limited capacity ground. Always a conscious guy, the first feeling I had when I succeeded in struggling my way into the ground was that of foreboding. Crowd control measures were practically non-existent! So I didnt wait for anybody to tell me, I started fighting my wall out of the ground, preferring to stay outside the facility to follow the historic event. It was not long, I started seeing sweat and blood and tears. People had been stampeded to death. Dozens of people. And the joy of the day gave way to crying, and crying to regrets. At my own feet, where I was standing outside the ground, was the seemingly lifeless body of my own kinsman. He was dying. They had managed to smuggle his body outside the rampaging and chaotic ground. Momentarily, I became a rescue expert. All the instincts fell in place, and I started carrying the body of my Anthony on my shoulder, looking for a way to beat the human and vehicular traffic outside the ground to a place where I could get a taxi to ferry him to the nearest hospital. Tick tick tick tick said the clock. Time was going. Was he finally dead? Sometimes, it seemed so. I would running with him on my shoulder, to save a life... Well, he survived, but scores of people were not that lucky. They died! Reminiscences, unpleasant reminiscences of Liberation Stadium with Goodluck Jonathan! And today, we hear of TAN rally in the same place, we hear of Ebola outbreak in Port Harcourt, we hear expert admonition to avoid bodily contact. You always wish people will be reasonable. But you can only wish! I wish all those who will gather at the Liberation Stadium today the best of luck and divine safety!
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 06:12:41 +0000
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