Mrs. Jennifer Jackson has been grappling with nightmares since May 28. Jennifer, whose husband died in 2020, saw death on that day but cheated it by divine grace.
Her 15-year-old daughter, Precious, was however not as fortunate. The fragile soul, who would have turned 16 in October, was marched to death and her feeble bones crushed during the stampede that happened at Polo Club, Port Harcourt, in the early hours of that day.
Jennifer said amid sobs: “I can no longer sleep. I have been having nightmares since the incident occurred.
“I haven’t received any medical treatment myself. On Sunday, I almost died because I fainted but my mother brought me back to life.
“I don’t have money to go to the hospital after surviving that stampede. My face is swollen and I have injuries all over my body.
“I was busy trying to save my daughter. But I lost her.”
The journey that snuffed life out of her daughter and almost took hers started when a member of the King’s Assembly, a new generation church based in Port Harcourt, informed her about a give-away programme tagged ‘Shop-for-Free, which the church organised at the Polo Club in GRA.
She said: “One lady on our street just saw me. We moved into the area newly. She told me they had something to share in their church.
“On Friday last week, I went to her and asked her about the time for the programme. She said they would open the gate by 4 am on Saturday.
“When we got there, the crowd was not much. They didn’t open the gate, so we stood there and others were worried that the gate was not opened.
“As we stood there, many other people were coming. After some time, a car came and someone asked us to form a line.
“After we formed a line, more people were still coming. Then we saw some people entering the venue and we wondered where they passed through.
“Some people suggested that we should move closer. When we got closer, we discovered that the gate was still shut but people were inside.
“We later discovered that there was small gate behind that those people used to gain access to the place. But I told my daughter we should wait.
“I held her hand. We were at the middle of the line. But many people were behind us and were also at various corners.”
Jennifer recalled that as the line started moving, there was a sudden surge of the crowd from different corners towards the gate. She fell down with her daughter as the crowd pushed with ferocity. While she cried out faintly gasping for breath, she heard a cacophony of weary voices begging for help. Her daughter let out a dying outcry.
She said: “We fell and I saw myself dying. I heard my daughter shout faintly. Others on the ground were shouting. I shouted too. I discovered that I was dying but I kept praying inside of me. I told God that I came because of food and that he should not allow His servant to die.
“I called on the Holy Spirit to give me strength. ‘Holy Spirit, help me. I am your worker, give me strength. I don’t want to die here,’ I prayed.
“By that time, I didn’t hear my daughter’s voice again. I didn’t feel her shaking too. But I kept praying for help. As I opened my eyes, I saw a crowd of dead bodies lying on the ground.
“I saw my daughter’s face come down. But I had no strength to carry her. I kept saying, ‘My daughter, please wake up. Both of us came together, you cannot leave me. Please wake up. You are the only helper I have even the food we came to collect, we haven’t seen anything, please wake up’.
“I had lost my strength so I couldn’t carry her.”
Jennifer said people came to pick their loved ones and a man helped her to carry Precious out of the gate. She lamented that vehicles evacuated her daughter and other victims to the hospital, but there was no immediate medical treatment.
Jennifer, who was still inconsolable, said her late daughter was preparing to write the external examination conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) when the incident occurred. She could not also wear the uniform she sewed to mark the Children’s Day programme at the church on May 29.
“I have been suffering to raise my daughter. We live in poverty, no money or food, and that was why we went there to see whether we could get food.
“I have not received any good treatment since the incident occurred because I have no money,” she said.
