A landlord, Pa Abdullamid Alabi, narrowly escaped death when his house collapsed in the Jegede community of Ibadan, Oyo State, resulting in the tragic loss of 14 lives, including his wife, four grandchildren, and nine psychiatric patients he cared for.
The heartbreaking incident occurred on Thursday night, following a thunderstorm that hit the area.
Currently receiving treatment at Mercyland Hospital, Alabi recounted the devastating experience to Sunday Punch, expressing his shock over the sudden collapse. “The incident occurred at night. There were no visible cracks in the building. I still cannot explain what led to it, but God Almighty knows,” he said through tears.
The tragedy struck after a brief 30-minute rainfall accompanied by a thunderstorm that reportedly blew through the windows of the bungalow. Alabi, a psychiatric doctor, survived by chance, having left the house to use the restroom around 12:10 am. Moments later, he heard the rumbling sound of the collapse, which claimed the lives of nearly all his family members and patients.
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“At that time, everyone in my family had gone to bed; that is the last thing I remember. I later woke up in this hospital. I survived by the grace of God,” he shared. “I was using the building as a clinic for psychiatric rehabilitation, and the nine patients who died were living with us. They had almost fully recovered before the incident.”
Alabi explained that the guardian of one of the deceased patients had allowed him to live with the family for rehabilitation purposes, stating that the patients were not confined but moved freely around the house. “My first wife was among those who perished. She was about 70 years old, and I am over 80. I am devastated and appealing to well-meaning Nigerians for help. I have nowhere to go now; I am homeless.”
He also expressed gratitude to the rescuers who played crucial roles in pulling survivors from the debris.
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Jelilatu Olapade, Alabi’s younger sister, emphasized that the building had no structural defects before its collapse. The 63-year-old noted that the children who died were fast asleep on the ground floor at the time. “They could not escape and were covered by the wreckage. Family members who narrowly escaped were all upstairs,” she said.
She pointed out another young female survivor in the ward, explaining, “My daughter is a survivor and is in another ward receiving treatment for injuries. If she hadn’t quickly evacuated her newborn and another child from the rubble through God’s grace, they would have been crushed to death.”
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