Ibadan stàmpede: Arrest parents who smuggled kids to Ibadan funfair — Femi Branch tells Tinubu

Nollywood actor, Femi Branch has condemned the arrest and detention of former Ooni’s queen Naomi Silekunola, Oriyomi Hamzat, and Islamic High School principal, Abdullahi Fasasi following the tragic children fun fair stampede in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

According to the actor, the real culprits of the incident should be the parents of the children who camped them overnight at the venue and even went as far as throwing them over the fence into the venue of the event.

He further emphasised that the organisers only intended to do good, and it was unfair to detain them.

He called for the release of Naomi and others, urging the police to investigate the parents of those children instead.

He disclosed this in a video he shared via his Instagram handle on Tuesday, 24th of December 2024.

He said:

“This is not a Christmas video, although I’m wishing you all a Merry Christmas, My heart is heavy right now, I want to quickly just say a few things about the unfortunate incident that happened in Ibadan that led to the death of 35 children.

“I was very sad when I first heard that the organisers, prophetess Naomi, Oriyomi Hamzat have been arrested, charged to court and now I’m hearing they have been remanded.

“Honestly I’m curious to hear the charges, I’m sure it’s going to border on Negligence, and whatever, but let us do a quick analysis, I want to believe they have very good lawyers because this case is nonsense, I’m sorry to say and this is not me trying to be insensitive to the plight of the children that died, it’s very tragic, but if the purpose is to punish those responsible, how is it the organisers?

“Now let’s look at the facts on the ground, the event was meant to start by 10 am, security personnel were supposed to arrive at 8, and the venue was locked and wasn’t meant to be opened until the security personnel arrived by 8 for an event that was supposed to start by 10.

“From the reports we have, people came overnight; they started arriving overnight and began throwing their children over the fence and into the compound.

“I saw a very tragic incident where, as the mother threw her child over the fence, the child hit their head and died instantly. So how is this the fault of the organisers?

“Is it a problem to do good in this country right now because we are dealing with so much, and a few people try once in a while with the little God has blessed them with to help people’s lives? This situation can happen to anybody. We understand the root cause of this matter is that there’s hunger in the land, but is it hunger that will make you endanger the life of your child? Throwing your child over a fence? How bad is that hunger?” [CONTINUE READING HERE]>>>>>