On Monday, November 1, 2021, a development project managed by Fourscore Homes Limited along Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, crashed to the ground, heaping 21 storeys worth of debris on approximately 50 people who were on-site at the time of the building collapse.

• Eko Hot Blog Perspective on the Ikoyi Carnage 

The succeeding days have spun doleful webs of melancholy around Nigeria’s commercial capital as the human cost of this tragedy continues to pile up in the shape of dozens of casualties who came to an abrupt end in what has been largely dubbed an avoidable tragedy.

As of Saturday, November 6, 2021, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, while providing an update on the incident said the number of deaths recorded so far in the building collapse had risen to 42, with more bodies expected to be recovered in the days to follow.

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It did not particularly come as a surprise that the court of public opinion resumed session in the wake of this horrible tragedy; someone had to take the blame for this. However, the fact that Femi Osibona, CEO of Fourscore Homes Limited who ran the point in the development project had perished beneath the rubble meant that he could not possibly have orchestrated a series of events that would culminate in his own premature demise.

However, not even Femi Osibona’s demise would suffice to quell the thirst for answers, as Nigerians, still looking to understand who dropped the ball that led to the death of dozens of people kept asking: “who let this happen”?

Shortly after the incident, Online News Website, SaharaReporters, published a report wherein it stated that the landed property was bought by Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo from Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, founder of Elizade Motors (Elizade Nigeria Limited) shortly after he became the Vice President.

Vice President Osinbajo and Chief Michael Ade-Ojo have since published rejoinders of their own, discrediting the report by the news platform, with Osinbajo stating that he has directed the “disgraceful” publication to his lawyers for prompt legal action.

Sanwo-Olu inaugurates six-man panel to investigate the cause of the collapse

So far, there has been no concrete evidence to substantiate claims by some quarters of the society that major foul play had been involved in the inspection process of the building project. Claims that Mr Osibona had refused to allow officials of the Lagos State Government from inspecting the project, from a critically impassioned point of view, would echo as wild conspiracy theory at best, and outright kamikaze at worst.

The glaring question here is, why would Mr Osibona, a savvy-minded businessman deliberately engage in a course of action that could pose such danger to his multi-billion naira project? Why would he dare to throw gasoline on a burning match-stick just to see what happens? This is not to mention that Mr Fẹmi Ọṣibọna has executed similar projects successfully in the UK, South Africa and other parts of the globe.

Sanwo-Olu Visits Scene of the collapsed building

There is also the fact that the building conveniently collapsed at a time when Mr Ọṣibọna was inside, which begs a question as to whether there was really more to the building collapse than meets the eye.

Eyebrows have also been raised following the visit of the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba to the site of the building collapse which hasn’t particularly been declared a crime scene, leading to widespread speculation that a number of high-profile individuals may be persons of interest in this calamitous event.

It is also pertinent to note that during his visit to the scene of the collapse, the National Leader of Nigeria’s ruling party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his comment had suggested in cryptic terms that the gruesome event “should never have occurred” in the first place. This has also led to suspicions that there may be certain crucial facts surrounding the incident that is yet to hit the public domain.

Owner’ Of Collapsed Ikoyi Building, Femi Osibona Found Dead

Speaking during his visit, Asiwaju said:. “The collapse of a 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos, is a sad and painful incident. Once more and all too often, we have suffered the loss of lives for no defensible reason. This tragedy should never have occurred.

“It is obvious to us that something went terribly wrong. If indeed intentional or reckless wrongdoing has been committed, appropriate sanctions should find those who have been found to have shirked their fundamental responsibilities.

“As much as we are in collective pain and grief, we must also be clear and focused. Let us use this tragedy to serve as a strong warning and deterrent to end any misconduct that might in any way contribute to such an incident.

“The departed, their grieving families and the people of Lagos State deserve no less and should perhaps demand even more.

“No-one should suffer what these people suffered.”

In a swift response to the tragic event, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu ordered the indefinite suspension of the general manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Gbolahan Oki. However, the commissioner under whose watch this monumental tragedy occurred has been miraculously spared the big stick.

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The Governor on Thursday also inaugurated a six-member panel of inquiry to investigate the cause of the collapse of the 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Mr Sanwo-Olu inaugurated the panel at the headquarters of the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) at Falomo where members of the panel would be sitting.
The governor also signed an executive bill to give legal backing to the panel during their period of sitting.

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The panel will be chaired by Toyin Ayinde, the president of the National Institute of Town Planners.
Other members of the panel are Akintilo Idris; Yinka Ogundairo, an architect; Godfrey Godfrey, a builder; Bunmi Ibraheem, and Ekundayo Onajobi, the secretary of the panel.
Mr Sanwo-Olu urged the panel to be professional and factual in their findings, in order to give closure to the families of those who lost their lives in the incident.
While the panel inauguration in itself is no doubt a rational and pragmatic move to unravel the unseen mystery behind the November 1 incident, for many students of history, there is an air of a familiar and altogether distasteful de javu.

On 8th March 2016, a 6-storey building under construction by Lekki Gardens Estates Ltd in Ikate-Lekki in Lagos State collapsed killing 34 persons.

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The state government under the ex-governor Akinwunmi Ambode had initially sold the impression that due investigations into the circumstances surrounding the building collapse would be conducted with a view to ensuring that justice was served to the victims of the tragic incident.

Consequently, founder and Chairman of Lekki Gardens Estate Ltd, Richard Nyong, and seven others were arrested and charged with manslaughter among others.

However, after a long, drawn-out hearing, the Lagos State Government under governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2020 entered into a settlement agreement with Lekki Gardens Estate that saw the company pay N100M to the state Government and N50 to the families of the victims of the building collapse, and a process that was meant to serve justice ended up becoming a routine handshake deal without uncovering the underbelly of the beast that caused the building collapse in the first place.

With tons of unanswered questions surrounding this latest building collapse in Lagos State, the panel of inquiry will have to be as apolitical as possible to dispassionately press to the discovery of the gaping questions surrounding the ownership of the property as well as the circumstances that caused a building designed by a team of professionals to crumble to the ground like a house of cards.

While it is true that justice in itself will not bring back the victims of the sad incident, the panel will face the daunting task of answering the salient questions like; who is the owner of salako and associates, and what is his involvement in the supervision and monitoring of the project? Who ordered the building unsealed? Was the building collapse from natural causes or a carefully orchestrated plot to eliminate the competition?

It will not suffice for some disingenuous, faceless individuals to pull their cheque books and make the problem disappear. The ultimate goal has to be to ferret out the capabilities leading to the dreadful event with a view to forestalling a future recurrence.

We at EKO HOT BLOG call on Lagos and other states to ensure strict compliance with the National and State Building Codes.  Government should ensure strict enforcement of the Builders Liability Insurance/Insurance of Buildings under Construction.

We believe the Lagos State Government must ensure an adequate investigation into the incident, which must be thorough and fair and see to it that all those found culpable for this carnage, no matter how highly placed, are made to face the law.

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