An unspecified number of people reportedly lost their lives last weekend in a stampede while struggling for alms at the residence of Katsina Business Mogul, Dahiru Mangal.
Many others were also said to have sustained injury during the event which started at around 9 pm and lasted till midnight.
Several anonymous sources confirmed the sad incident which they say affected mostly aged women.
One of the sources attributed the cause of the stampede to “high level of impatience exhibited by the beggars as some of them refused to join the unending long queue.”
Most of the casualties trampled upon were reported to be beggars and aged women anxiously seeking for their portion from the generosity of the Katsina Business Mogul.
Saga Gist gathered that it is Dahiru Mangal’s tradition to regularly give alms to the needy, especially in the holy month of Ramadan.
As a result, a lot of alms seekers from Nigeria and her Niger neighbours are always found hovering around his Kwofa Kwaya mansion to beg for alms.
The alms given to the needy by the business mogul comprises food items and N500 each for every alms seeker present.
A source said: “We were given N500 each with food items but people were too many and we were all struggling to get our share and some people started falling down as they could not control the crowd.”
As of the time of filing this report, Katsina Police is yet to confirm the story, even as the resident of the Katsina Business Mogul is seen to be heavily guarded by armed security personnels.
Saga Gist also gathered from one of the eyewitnesses that only a few of the alms seekers at the Dahiru Mangal’s residence were sighted with face masks and that social distancing was completely disregarded in the course of the exercise.
It could be recalled that three years ago, a similar incident was reported to have occurred at the residence of Kamal Ma’a Gafai, where five alm seekers, comprising four minors and one 40-year-old woman died in a stampede, in Katsina State.
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