Police Arrest Parish Priest, Officials Of Holy Trinity Catholic Church Over Fatal Stampede

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police in Abuja on Wednesday arrested the parish priest and officials of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in connection with a deadly stampede in the city.

The police are also looking into the stampede in Abuja, as well as two other stampedes that happened in Anambra and Oyo.

At least 10 people lost their lives while receiving groceries at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Abuja over the weekend. The incident occurred in the church's parking lot. A Catholic priest first announced the arrests on Wednesday, and later, the police confirmed the news, Premium Times reported.

Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese Ignatius Kaigama condemned the arrest of the church officials and described it as unhelpful and lacking compassion. He questioned the purpose of the arrests and said they were unnecessary and misguided.

He called on the authorities to support the church and the event organizers in recovering from the traumatic incident instead of focusing on prosecution.

The spokesperson for the FCT Police Command Josephine Adeh confirmed the arrests on Wednesday, explaining that the organizers were negligent. She pointed out that such a large event should have been reported to the police, especially since 10 people, including children, died, and many others were injured.

When asked if the priest was among those arrested, Adeh said she could not confirm if a priest had been detained, unless he was directly involved in organizing the event.

President Bola Tinubu earlier held the organizers of the events in Abuja, Oyo, and Anambra responsible for the deadly stampedes. In his first presidential media chat on Monday (Dec. 23), the president stated that poor planning by the organizers led to the tragedies.

Over 60 people, including children, lost their lives in the three incidents.

Witnesses of the Abuja stampede reported that a crowd surge occurred at one of the church's gates around 4 a.m., as many people tried to enter the premises before the gift items were to be distributed.

A survivor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the stampede happened because many people did not wait in line for the distribution. A parish security official revealed that over 3,000 people, mainly from nearby areas like Mpape and Gishiri, had gathered for the event.

In addition to those who died, many others were injured in the stampede. On Monday, the Acting Director of the FCT Emergency Management Department Abdulrahman Mohammed confirmed that all the injured people in the incident had been discharged from the hospital.

In response to the incidents, the police issued new guidelines for organizers of large events.