The police in Enugu have advised the residents to shake off the phobia of bomb attacks and face their daily activities.
Reacting to Wednesday's stampede at the Ogbete Main Market in Enugu, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, said people had no cause to fear as there was no threat to their security.
The market went into a pandemonium late on Wednesday when people sighted a group of people dressed in Fulani attire in the market.
Traders as well as buyers abandoned their shops and business activities to run for safety as word went round that the men were members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
An eyewitness said the stampede resulted to some people being injured.
Mr Henry Ude, a trader in the market, said the level of insecurity and incidences of bomb explosion in the country had created perennial fear in the people.
“You don’t have to blame anybody because seeing a group of Hausa people moving like that can lead to something strange as had been experienced in the country,” Ude said.
Mrs Chima Eke, a trader in the market who sustained injury during the incident, said she had to run for safety when she heard screams of “ndi Boko Haram”, “ndi Boko Haram”.
“The injury I sustained was because people clustered at the major route of escape in my line.
“I thank God that it was only a rumour because if it were to be true the number and level of casualties will be in hundreds,’’ she said.
Mr Clement Ume, a driver who plies the market route, described the incident as ‘very unfortunate’ and warned that people should not take a serious issue like bomb scare to joke because it could lead to loss of lives.
Ume said the pandemonium caught up with drivers as many of them reversed their vehicles to run for dear life, saying it could have cause multiple accidents.
He suggested the deployment of a detachment of mobile police in the market to give the people a sense of safety of their lives and property.
Amaraizu said the police acted on on reports but that there was no report of any security threat in the state.
“There is no cause for alarm, so people should dispel such rumour and go about their normal duties,” he said.
The spokesman said the people spreading such unfunded rumours were only creating unnecessary fear in the residents so that they could have the chance to operate during the confusion.
He advised Enugu residents to go about their lawful duties as the police was working round the clock to ensure that they slept with their eyes closed.?