Children’s Day: No Casualty At Ogbemudia Stadium Incident – CMD

The chief medical director, Edo Specialist Hospital, Dr Anthonia Njoku, has refuted the social media reports alleging that five pupils died during the Children’s Day celebration at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin.

Addressing newsmen yesterday in Benin, Njoku said, “Yesterday (Wednesday), we were called in for an emergency response, and we responded swiftly and appropriately to some of the children who were evacuated by our ambulance to our facility.

“Resuscitation measures started immediately and to God be the glory, we have no casualty, the children are all stable and we want to thank our governor for his continuous support,” she said.

On why the children were seen on the floor of the hospital, Njoku explained that they were placed there for effective resuscitation, which some of the children needed.

“You needed to put some of these children on hard surfaces to be able to resuscitate them, that’s why we even have some of them on the floor. Our goal at that point was to avoid any casualties.

“We want to use this medium to thank our able governor for his passion for children,”she added.

In her response, the coordinator of the Office of the First Lady of Edo, Mrs Edesili Okpebholo Anani, noted that she was at the hospital on a fact-finding mission regarding the incident that occurred during the Children’s Day celebration.

“I have had a conversation with the CMD, the children are fine, and they have been discharged, and we are happy. I want to thank the hospital’s management for their swift response.

“The governor would have loved to be here, but he is out for another official engagement; he had directed that I should come on my fact-finding mission to see what is happening,” she said.

She, however, described what happened during the Children’s Day celebration as unfortunate, noting that the response came quickly and that the safety of our children remains the administration’s priority.