14032019 -Rowdy session in Senate over elections

10 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2019
By Evelyn Usman,
Olasunkanmi Akoni,
Dayo Adesulu, Bose
Adelaja, Monsur
Olowopejo, Esther
Onyegbula &
Elizabeth Nwandu
LAGOS—No fewer than
nine persons including
Nursery and Primary school
pupils, lost their lives after a
three storey building caved
in, yesterday, at Dagara,
street, Ita Faaji, Lagos
Island.
However, 24 of them,
majority of who were females
were rescued and rushed to
the Lagos Island General
Hospital, where doctors
battled to resuscitate them.
Some of the injured had
fractures, bruises and severe
cuts on part of their bodies,
while scores of others were
still strapped under the
debris with rescue operators,
including residents making
frantic efforts to evacuate
them, as at 7.45pm.
The top most floor of the
three storey building was
occupied by Ohel Nursery
and Primary school, with a
pent house on it.
The school had about 100
pupils as at the time of the
incident.
While the first floor was
purely residential, the
ground floor was for
residential and commercial
purposes. The first, second
and pent house, as gathered,
caved in at about 10.30am,
burying the pupils, staff and
residents.
Youths in the area were said
to have commenced
evacuation work before the
arrival of rescue operators.
Residents however,
claimed that rescue
operators arrived the scene
about two hours later.
Among the first corpses
brought out from the rubbles
was that of a six-year-old
Primary one pupil identified
as Adeyemo Taiye, whose
parents live in the same
building.
Her twin sister, Adeyemo
Kehinde, was later brought
out at about 2.19 pm,
alongside a pregnant
woman.
Kehinde who was
struggling to remain
conscious was rushed to the
hospital while her mother, a
petty trader, was seen
wailing.
Cause of collapse
Vanguard gathered that
the collapsed building and
about 15 others on Dagara
and Massey streets had
been marked for demolition
by the Lagos State
Government.
Residents alleged that
each time government
officials came; owners of the
affected buildings would
give them money ranging
from N30, 000 to N150, 000,
depending on the number
of floors, to prevent their
buildings from being
demolished.
Thereafter, owners of the
buildings would repaint
them to erase the red mark
on it.
One of the residents who
spoke with Vanguard, Mr
M.M Labidjo, said, “The
incident occurred at about
10.30am but there was no
rescue operators until two
hours later. The building
Nine dead, scores injured in collapsed Lagos building
•My son had premonition of tragedy — mother
•LASG explains reason for collapse; Buhari condoles with victims' families
had visible cracks on it
before it collapsed. Most of
the houses here were
marked for demolition, but
corrupt Lagos State officials
usually collect money from
landlords. As I speak, one
of the marked houses here
has its pillar tilted to a
corner, yet the landlord has
not done anything to
address it and people are
still living there.
“This particular building
that collapsed was built
about 50 years ago. They
have told the owner to work
on the cracks .As if that was
not enough, the owner of
the school built a pent house
on it, where children in
crèche occupied.”
Lamentations
A woman, who was
sighted wailing and rolling
on the floor, said her sister’s
three children were pupils
of the school.
The woman, who simply
gave her name as Iya beji,
said: “My sister’s three
children are still under.
They are of ages 7, 9 and
11. Ah! God, save Ibrahim,
Yusuf and Oloade for us.”
As she wailed, another
woman, Iya Adio, who
resides at Messy Street, but
sells fish at Ijora, placed her
two hands on her heads as
she marched briskly to
where evacuation was
going on.
In her confused state, she
started removing the debris
with her hands in an
apparent attempt to get to
where her three children
were trapped. But she was
prevented from further trial,
as she was informed that
one of her children had
been rushed to the hospital.
Another woman
identified simply as Iya
Gbenji, blamed herself for
allowing her son to go to
school, saying : “Gbenji did
not want to go to school
today (yesterday). He said
he had stomach upset and
I thought it was one of his
pranks. I gave him bread
and tea and also made him
to eat out of the food he was
to take to school, yet, he
said he won’t go. I did not
know he had a premonition
of what was to occur.
“I had to give him
N50.000 and an extra piece
of meat before he
reluctantly left. When I
heard about the collapse, I
screamed and concluded
that could have been his
reason of not wanting to go
to school…”
She was cut short by a
relative who suggested
they go to the hospital to
know if her son was among
those rushed there.
Another parent, lamented
that his three children only
started school yesterday,
having being home since
the term began, following
his inability to pay their
school fees.
Names of rescued,
injured victims
When Vanguard visited
the Lagos Island General
The building.
Hospital, relatives of
rescued victims were
sighted pacing the
Accident and Emergency
ward.
None of them could
speak on the condition of
their loved ones.
Twenty-four victims were
admitted at the hospital.
Among them were 14
females and nine males.
They were: Adeyemo
Kehinde, Adedoyin
Rukayat, Sanusi Rukayat,
Suleiman Baraka, Rasheed
Shukurat , Komolafe Saidat
, Hassan Omotolani ,
Abimbola Faruq and Alabi
Quayum.
Others are: Afolabi
Rodiat, Olawusi Rokibat,
Alawu Fayibat, Adedoyin
Kehinde, Rasheed Labat
,Naimot Tise, Alabi Kabiru,
Shashore Kabiru,
Ogunsanwo Daniel ,
Owolabi Ayomide and
Ayeni Faruo.
More buildings will
collapse – ARCON
President
President of the
Architects Registration
Council of Nigeria, Dipo
Ajayi, who was at the scene,
said more of such tragedy
would occur in the area if
government did not take
urgent step to evacuate
residents whose buildings
had visible cracks.
Wondering why such
buildings were still being
occupied by tenants, he
said, “If you look at this
environment, it is one of the
oldest places in Lagos. Most
of the buildings here are
dilapidated. In a matter of
time, some of them will come
down on their own because
they are very weak.
These buildings were
built with bricks. There are
no iron rods and no
reinforcement, which
means the urban renewal
of this place, is overdue. It
is the responsibility of
Government to relocate
these people in order to
forestall a re- occurrence.”
Why building caved in
— LASG
Meanwhile, General
Manager, Lagos State
Building Control Agency,
LASBCA, Olalekan
Shodeinde, blamed the
tragedy on the additional
structure on it.
He confirmed that the
building was marked as
distressed in 2017, after it
experienced foundation
failure, when the bearing
capacity of the soil could not
sustain the added
structures on the building.
Shodeinde, who was
represented by the agency's
secretary, Tayo Fakoluyo,
said: “The additional load
of penthouse imposed on
the distressed structure
added to the design
capacity and load being
transferred through the
structural members made
the building heavier than
the capacity of the soil
which is the ultimate load
bearer.''
Ambode, Army, Police
officers visit scene
Governor Ambode who
visited the scene,
sympathized with those
affected by the tragedy.
He informed that
integrity tests had been
conducted on some
buildings in the area, to
ascertain whether they
were habitable, threatening
that any building that failed
the test would have the
necessary action taken on
it.
On the part of the state
government, he said it
would take care of the
hospital bills of those
admitted.
Already, he said his
deputy was at the hospital
to see the injured, adding
that after the treatment, they
would be kept in a proper
place for further care.
Also at the scene, were
the General Officer
Commanding the 81
Division of the Nigerian
Army, Major General Sani
Yusuf; the Commander 9
Brigade, Brigadier General
Timothy Lagbaja;
Commissioner of Police,
Lagos State Police
Command, Zubairu
Muazu; Commander
Rapid Response Squad,
RRS , Tunji Disu, and the
Area Commander ‘A’ Bode
Ojanuni.
Also present were
Chairman, Lagos State
Emergency Management
Agency, Mr. Adeshina
Tiamiyu, and the
Chairman, Lagos State
Neighborhood and Safety
Corps, DIG Isreal Ajao
(retd) among others.
Rescue operators at the
scene included the Police,
officials of the National
Emergency Management
Agency, NEMA, Lagos
State Ambulance Service,
Lagos State Fire Service,
Lagos State Building
Control Agency, and
Federal Fire Service.
Others were the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence
Corps, Nigeria Red Cross
Society and LSNSC.
40 persons rescued
— LASEMA
The General Manager,
LASEMA, Adesina
Tiamiyu, who spoke with
journalists at the scene,
said: “We have rescued
close to 50 and about 40 of
them are alive. I can’t give
an exact figure because we
keep taking them in and out
and it is not the counting
that is important now. We
will be able to put our
figures together when
evacuation is over and by
then, we will talk to the
press.
“We must get to the
bottom of this building and
we must account for
everybody that is in this
building as claimed. The
school must have record of
pupils who have been here
and we also expect parents
to come around to identify
those of them that have been
rescued. For those who are
still being rescued, their
parents are here, we will
allow them to identify them
as we bring them out and
after which we will take a
head count to ensure that
nobody is still trapped
within the building.
‘’We have provided
oxygen for those who are
weak. We have also been
able to drill a hole so we can
be able to reach them. Our
escalator has created a safe
place from the side, to
enable us enter. If we start
from the front, it will be very
difficult because that will be
putting weight on the
already weak structure.’’
Similarly, Chairman of
Lagos Island Local
Government, Mr Samau
Bashua, said though the
primary thing was to save
more lives, he added that
legislation on illegal private
schools and distress
buildings would be
addressed later.
He said: ‘’We are
collaborating with the Lagos
State Government Building
Control Agency LASBCA,
to identify more of these
buildings as we have been
doing. When we identify
more , we will pass the
information to government
for seal up.’’
As at time of this report,
Bashua said: ‘’We have
confirmed 9 dead, but we
hope to be able to rescue
the rest still trapped soon
enough.’’
Buhari sympathizes
with families of victims
Meantime, President
Muhammadu Buhari, in a
statement by his Special
Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Femi Adesina,
sympathized with the
families of victims.
The President in the
statement charged the
Lagos State government to
do all that was needful, to
avoid future recurrence of
such tragic developments.
He said, “It touches one
to lose precious lives in any
kind of mishap, particularly
those so young and tender.
May God grant everyone
affected by this sad incident
fortitude and succour.”