Lagos Building Collapse: Woman Who Lost 2 Kids Commits Suicide

Wednesday’s building collapse in Lagos which killed 20 pupils has recorded another tragic incident as a woman who lost her two children in the fallen house has reportedly killed herself by ingesting the insecticide known as Sniper.


Our correspondent gathered that she committed suicide after she received the news of the death of the children.

Neighbours seen talking about the tragic incident said the woman and her husband, who live(d) in Gambari area of the Island, had two children aged six and four through Caesarean Section.

A neighbour who did not want to give her name said, “Nobody knew what she wanted to do with the Sniper, but a few minutes later, we saw the bottle beside her where she was sleeping and we found out that she was already dead.’’

Sympathisers thronged their house to condole with the husband and family members.

Meanwhile, a parent, Mr. Muyideen Akinshina, lamented yesterday that one of his three daughters, Mujidat, was still missing 24 hours after the collapse.

Akinshina, who had three children in the school, Ohen Nursery and Primary School, Lagos Island, disclosed that he had already buried one of the children, Aaliyah, who did not survive the collapse.

The distraught man lamented that he was now left with his last child, two-year-old Abdullahi, who is still being treated at the hospital.

A two-storey building collapsed yesterday at Sogoye, along Bode area of Ibadan, Oyo State, trapping many of the occupants in the rubble.

This tragedy comes just two days after a three-storey building collapsed at Ita Faji area of Lagos Island, killing 20 pupils and an adult.

At the time of filing this report, no fewer than four victims had been rescued from the wreckage by officials of the state fire service.

Our correspondent learned that a lot of people lived in the house, and as emergency workers intensified efforts to rescue more victims, there was confusion in the area.

It was gathered that the building fell when bricklayers and other artisans at the site were rounding off the day’s job.

A source said those rescued were Olalekan Dauda, Tunde Toheeb, Gbadamosi and Rilwan Oladepo.

According to him, nobody was found dead but rescue efforts were ongoing by men of the fire service and volunteers to pull out the victims from the rubble.

Residents said some of the trapped victims distress calls with their phones.

One of the victims, Dauda, said he was working with others at the third floor when he heard a sudden blast and later found out that he and others were trapped in the rubble.

Gbadamosi said, “Today is my first time of working at this place. I just come around in order to raise money for my upkeep because things are difficult. I thank God that I came out of the rubble alive”.

One of the fire fighters who pleaded anonymity said, “We responded promptly to the emergency call as we got to the scene 35 minutes after alert.

“We are doing our best to rescue the victims but the challenge we are facing is getting the right equipment to uplift the concrete.

“Another challenge is the time of the day. It will soon be dark but that will not deter us from doing our best”, he said.

When contacted, Mr Akin Makinde of the Oyo State Emergency Management Agency blamed the incident on the building’s developer for failing to liaise with approving authorities before embarking on the housing project.

“The building was still under construction, and workers were still on the site when the building collapsed, but no casualty has been recorded.

“Security operatives have arrived the site and rescuers from Oyo State Emergency Management Agency have arrived. Also, men of the state fire service were around to arrest the situation, but we’re handicapped due to lack of required equipment to carry out the rescue operations”.

The Lagos State government yesterday commenced the demolition of over 150 distressed buildings on Lagos Island.

It was gathered that the move was in response to the collapse of the three-storey building at Ita-Faji area of Lagos Islands which killed 20 school children and an adult.

Officials of the Lagos State Build-ing Control Agency, LASBCA, backed by policemen, stormed Freeman Street, Lagos Island around 9:50am and immediately began demolition.

A three-storey building at 60 Freeman Street was being demolished by 10:00am yesterday.

Acting general manager, LASBCA, Omotayo Fakoluju, said the demolition order was given by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and that the building was a distressed one.

He noted that the owner of the building had gone to court to challenge government’s plan to demolish it, but that the court gave judgment in favour of the government, which informed the demolition of the edifice.

Fakoluju disclosed that Ambode had given the agency the go-ahead to demolish 80 buildings on Lagos Island before the end of this month, adding that the agency would carry out the demolition in phases.

According to him, after demolishing the house of Freeman Street, the agency would go to Smith and Massey Streets to pull down two more buildings yesterday.

The acting general manager also disclosed that 20 of the 80 buildings earmarked for demolition were on Adeniji Adele, adding that the agency would no longer hesitate to bring down distressed buildings.

He disclosed that lots of buildings on the Island had been marked for demolition, but that some of them were subject of litigation which prevented government from going ahead to pull them down immediately.

“Over 80 buildings are ready for removal but we shall be removing them in phases. In buildings which are subject of litigation, we try to evacuate the occupants from the buildings so that there will not be loss of lives,” he said.

Fakoluju also disclosed that about 150 distressed buildings had been identified on Lagos Island, out of which 30 had been demolished in the last one year.