Season of building collapse in Lagos

According to Oodua Trust findings, the two people killed are a Hausa pepper seller, simply identified as Ibrahim who hails from Kano State and a middle-aged Igbo man whose identity could not be ascertained as at the time of writing this report. However, it was learnt that he sells Compact Disc (CD) besides the building. […]

According to Oodua Trust findings, the two people killed are a Hausa pepper seller, simply identified as Ibrahim who hails from Kano State and a middle-aged Igbo man whose identity could not be ascertained as at the time of writing this report. However, it was learnt that he sells Compact Disc (CD) besides the building.

The collapsed building belonged to the traditional ruler of Maidan Community, Chief Idowu Ogunjobi in Mile 12 area of Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area of Lagos State. It was on Number 1, Oniyarin Street.

According to a friend of Ibrahim in the community, Aliyu Usman, a wheel barrow pusher from Kebbi State who escaped death by the whiskers, Ibrahim had visited the deceased before the house crumbled. He said they had discussed so many issues, being a good friends and recalled that when he was about to leave, Ibrahim was eating rice for his supper at about 10.35 pm that evening.
However, Usman explained that while he had turned his back attempting to cross to the other side of Oniyanrin Street, he heard a thunderous noise and when he looked back, he said, “I saw the Igbo boy and Ibrahim trapped and by the time people made move to rescue them, they were already dead.”

Confirming the incident, the grandson of the traditional ruler, Omobolaji Ogunjobi, saidthe heavy downpour three days earlier before the building caved-in dealt a devastating blow on the property.  He said his grandfather accepted the responsibility and was prepared to pay compensation to the families of the deceased.

But, our reporter observed that the building had earlier been marked for demolition with some other structures in the vicinity, wondering why the traditional ruler who owned the building  decided to repair that part of the building.
The grandson of the chief admitted the building had been marked for demolition but defended his grandfather by saying, “We had complied by engaging some artisans to commence work but for the weather and fatigue which forced them to stay away, before this happened, we would have finished the renovation work and avoid this situation,” he pleaded.

Pleading for leniency, Omobolaji disclosed that his grandfather had taken over the burial of the Hausaman as well as packaged compensation gift for the family to take care of his two wives and sponsor the nine children to school for a while. He argued that the shop section of the house that collapsed had been evacuated or else casualties   would have been high.

“The shops had been evacuated since or else, we would have recorded more than the number of casualties; the people affected were passers-by. We have spoken with the Seriki Hausawa who wrote the application for the release of the corpse since he was a Muslim. The man has since been buried according to Islamic rites,” the young man maintained.

Although he said the affected Igbo trader had minor fractures and was at Igbobi orthopedic hospital near Yaba. Initially, he said the Igbo man was rushed to one private hospital (Elegbeye Hospital) nearby from where he was transferred to Orthopedic hospital at Igbobi, near Yaba for further treatment. However, other eyewitnesses disclosed that the unfortunate man died on the spot with the Hausaman.

Reacting to the incident, spokesman for the Lagos state government, Bamidele Opeyemi, who led Government House correspondents to the site, blamed the incident on the greed of the traditional ruler. Opeyemi who doubles as the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, argued that the traditional ruler deliberately extended the building with additional 24 shops probably for commercial reasons.

He  said, “It is sad that lives have been lost due to the greed of a man. This is an unfortunate instance for us as a government that cares for its people.” He noted that the state Ministry of Works and Infrastructure had marked the building and others in the area for demolition towards the expansion of the road to Agiliti, “The contract has been awarded; it would be supervised by the ministry.”
In an interview with the state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Francisco Abosede, at the site of the collapsed building, after he had shut the building and ordered the occupants to move out, the commissioner said such action has to be taken immediately because the building was not safe for habitation.

“We did this to prevent further loss of lives and properties; you can see that it was because the owner wanted to add another block that made the building to give way; we are going to close other houses around until they pass structural integrity tests that would be conducted on them any moment from now. We shall subject them to structural integrity tests; until then they are hereby closed; that is the law of Lagos state,” he declared.

Immediately after ordering occupants of the building to move out, he called the police and men of the building demolition team to take over the area, ordering that stock of inventories be taken to allow the state government move the tenants to any of the state’s settlement camps and hostels.
Earlier that Monday, tragedy had struck at Lagos Island when a four storey building situated at 24 Alli Street, off Tinubu square, collapsed and trapped over 50 people.

Investigations  show that the house and another  three storey building nearby had been marked by officials of the State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development (MPPUD) as a result of weakness and the need to pull them down. But, it was gathered by people in the neighbourhood that the owner cleverly painted of the marked section of the wall.
An eyewitness, Yusuf Agbaje, who lived in the neighbourhood informed Oodua Trust that the four storey building collapsed at about 05.15pm at the time when some of the residents were returning from work and traders who occupied the ground floor were packing their displayed goods into the shop.

He said he was on his way back from the office when suddenly, he heard a deafening sound which immediately reduced the massive structure to rubbles. He explained that the building was 17 years old and was built by a private developer simply identify as Salvador. He quickly added that the developer released the property to the children of the real owner about two years ago.

“The state government had marked the building for demolition. But we are surprised people are still living in the structurally defective building. Such buildings are many here on Lagos Island; now that this has happened, we thank God it did not kill anybody but the government must stand up now and stop playing politics  with people’s lives and be bold to  bring down any structurally defective building on the island,” Agbaje said.
One of the residents of the building who escaped unhurt, Taju Nasiru, said the occupants of the fourth floor where lucky to have escaped almost immediately the building came down, stressing that those from the first to the third floors  and some of the Igbo traders on the ground floor where not that lucky.