I lost my five-year-old son in Port Harcourt stampede — Father

Samuel Orji, the father of five-year-old Delight who was killed in the recent church stampede in Rivers State has narrated the circumstance leading to the boy’s death.

At least 31 persons were confirmed dead during a stampede at the venue of an outreach programme put together by a church – Kings Assembly – in Port Harcourt on Saturday morning.

Three days after the incident, Orji recounted how a friend invited him to the church for a programme.

Noting that he hasn’t visited the church before, the father of three said the incident happened about 6:30 am on Saturday.

“This is my first time attending it. At about 6:30 am, this incident occurred. Before then, we were at the gate and there was not much crowd,” the distraught father said.

“All of a sudden, people started coming more and more. They had to open the smaller gate. People started forcing themselves in through the small gate.

“As they were forcing themselves in, they immediately opened the big gate. People were entering in through the big gate, some were falling down. Those people that fell down, others were stepping on them,” he added.

Although he was able to rescue his daughter with his wife carrying the smaller daughter, his son was however not so fortunate.

He added, “I managed to rescue my first and second daughter. Only my son I couldn’t rescue because there was no way. The stampede was too much. I even broke my hand. I can’t raise my shoulder up because they matched me, I collapsed in short. I didn’t even know where I was.”

Orji also asked the police authorities to step up their investigations into the death of Delight to allow him claim the corpse of his son for burial.  (Channels TV)