One of the survivors of the collapsed 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos has disclosed that they were working on a cracked pillar of the high rise building when it collapsed.
The 21-storey building located in Gerrard Road, Ikoyi area of Lagos State killed over 40 persons when it caved in on November 1st.
The survivor who is a labourer at the site said the pillar they were working on was on the first floor.
He, however added that he managed to get out of the building with minor injuries.
He said a gateman helped him onto a motorcycle that took him to the hospital before the arrival of emergency responders.
This was revealed by the survivor to Premium Times from a hospital where he is still recuperating.
He noted that the late Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Limited and owner of the building, Femi Osibona knew about the faulty pillar and their attempt to remove it and put a new one.
According to him, he has been warned not to discuss the incident with anyone.
He, however, narrated, “I was working with my colleague. I have been told not to tell anybody. That day, we were working on the first floor, Engineer Kola and Engineer Ola told us there was one pillar on the first floor, the pillar was cracked. The engineers told us to break the pillar so that they could fix another pillar there because the pillar was really big; they had confidence that nothing would happen to the pillar if they set another one.
“Suddenly we heard a noise, the thing (pillar) started to shake, I and Monday (another labourer) ran when we saw that the pillar was starting to shake. When I was running, I fell down; I was struggling to come out.
“When I ran outside, the gateman saw me, he now called a bike man (commercial motorcyclist). I ran out before the rescue operatives came in. The owner of the house (Femi Osibona) knows (knew) about the pillar, that it was cracked. He told the two engineers to ask us to break it. He was aware, he saw us, he even gave us money for food (breakfast). He saw us there when we were working on it.”
The survivor explained that two members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), whom he identified as Sam and Shola were also trapped under the rubble.
He added that Mr Osibona was in a meeting when the building collapsed.
(Journalist101)