Following the recent stampede that occurred on Tuesday 25th February, 2025 involving students who were scheduled to write examination in the Department of Chemistry, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Prof. Florence Banku Obi, has confirmed that contrary to the information in circulation by some news merchants, claiming that two students: ‘a male and a female’ involved in the sad incident died, no student was actually dead.
The VC made the clarification while responding to concerns raised regarding the incident.
“Yes, we confirm that the was a stampede when some of our students were scheduled to write CHM 101 in the Department of Chemistry which is a general course for most students in sciences”.
“This sad and avoidable incident happened when those scheduled to write in the morning were unable to turned up for their examination and thereafter started struggling their ways with those scheduled for afternoon. Officials on ground struggled to manage the situation, but the students were obviously unruly, but none of them lost their lives either in the process or in the hospital. I visited those who were rushed to our medical center and I’ve been following up with every process and all of them have been discharged”, she added.
On the information making the round on different platforms that two of the students involved were already dead. The VC dismissed the information, adding that it is a handiwork of mischief makers and fake news purveyors while urging the public to disregard such information and contact only the relevant information unit of the university.
Earlier, the Head of Department, Pure and Applied Chemistry, Prof. Grace Iniama stated that the course is taking by 49 departments and more than 7,000 students registered for it.
“Everything was going smoothly until it started raining. The examination was scheduled for 8:00am to 6:00Pm. The students who were already writing were unable to come out of the hall and those outside started struggling to enter the hall without following the time they were scheduled for the exam”.
“This was the reason we employed CBT method which affords students a seamless opportunity to enter the examination hall and write at their scheduled time and leave, but the students became unruly and beyond the control of the officials on ground to handle. Some of them eventually sustained bruises because of the continued pushed and fall, but I thank God for the timely arrival of the university ambulance which conveyed them immediately to the medical facilities”, she said.
When contacted, the Director of the institution’s Medical Center, Dr. Etta Williams, said he got a call from the VC asking for an immediate dispatch of ambulance to convey the victims to the facility which he did and the students have been discharged from their facilities.
Dr. Etta however added that it is laughable to read from different social media handles that two of the victims died in their facilities.
“It is not true that two victims of the stampede in UNICAL died. It is even more laughable that it has been reported by some individuals and organizations without any finding. There’s no atom of truth in the news. We intervened immediately and conveyed them to our facilities. Some walked in here by themselves. Some had impending medical conditions which was prompted by the crowd”.
“One was an epileptic patient; two were referred to Unical Teaching Hospital for X-ray but have been discharged. Most of them got stabilized that day and were discharged, but those with impending medical conditions were kept behind for further examination and have been discharged”, he added.
