I am ruined! Where do I start from? I lost my
father and my husband in the collapsed building.
Also, all our life earnings are gone with the
disaster. Where do I start from?’’, Mrs Fatimo
Alake said amidst tears as sympathisers gathered
around her on Thursday.
Venue was the scene of the collapsed building at
No 29b Oloto Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, where
she had resided for the past two years. Before
she became an occupant of the building, she lived
on the third street, but, due to accommodation
challenges in the area, she and her husband
decided to live at No 29b.
An occupant of the collapsed three storey
building at 29,Oloto str, Herbert Maculay way,
Ebute Meta, Lagos Nigeria . Photo by Joe
Akintola (photo editor)Tosin Aladesokun,
Bunmi Azeez
The ill-fated three-storey building, constructed
about ten years ago, reportedly developed cracks
all over and was being repaired annually before
the collapse.
On that fateful Thursday, the occupants of the
building were asleep when a loud bang was
heard around 1.30am. Immediately, some of
them rushed outside but others could not until
the building caved in; in the process, some
people lost their lives while others sustained
injuries.
Those who died include a couple and a house
wife, an eighteen months old and an old man.
Some residents of the building told Sunday
Vanguard the police were the first to arrive the
scene, followed by the state Fire Service and then
the National Emergency Management Agency,
NEMA, led by its South West information officer,
Ibrahim Farinloye.
While Miss Baliks Abdulamid and her siblings were
lucky, Fatimo lost her father to the incident while
her husband had his leg broken and was rushed
to a nearby hospital for treatment. The husband
died hours later.
Narrating her story, Fatimo and her husband
were able to escape the incident leaving her aged
father on the bed. Moments later, they
remembered the father husband rushed back to
the room to save his father-in-law, carried him
and was on his way out of the building when he
fell and both were trapped until the building
caved in. Fatimo’s father died on the spot while
her husband died in hospital.
As soon as the news of the incident was broken,
the landlord, identified as Alhaji Oladimeji Gbaja,
who lived next door, escaped.
Inconsolable Fatimo said the family rented the
mini flat two years ago and renewed their annual
rent three days before the incident, ‘’We paid an
annual rent of N120,000 and the last one was
paid on Monday July 8, 2013. I lived on the next
street until I had an accommodation problem and
we parked into the mini flat. The house was quite
affordable to many but the incident had dealt a
blow on me. All our property are gone and where
do I start from…?’’, she lamented.
On why they rented the apartment inspite of the
cracks all over the building, she said, ‘’the building
was in a good shape and I wouldn’t have parked
in if I knew it was substandard?’’
Also, she spoke glowingly about her landlord
“who was nice to us”. “ For instance, he used to
exercise patience with his tenants in case they are
owing rent. Also, the rent was affordable to many
but the bone of contention is that we have just
paid another rent last Monday which expires in
June 2014. I have lost two prominent people in
my life had I known, I would have had a second
thought.”
There have been conflicting figures of the casualty
of the incident. While NEMA said seven died and
seven were rescued, Lagos State Emergency
Management Authority, LASEMA, boss, Dr. Femi-
Oke Osanyintolu, said “10 people were rescued
alive and four were confirmed dead” .
Osanyintola said integirty test will be carried out
on 10 buildings on the street.’

The directors of superman should remember to say "don't try this at home o" before they start their film.
I knw the street where the incident happened, and according to what I heard, the husband came out first before the wife, then she remembered her father, she wanted to go back in, but her husband offered to be her hero, instead of them to shout "baba, baba..! Come down..! The building is going down..!" if baba no gree escape then I don try be that.

They use to sell spare parts @ the ground floor of the building, one Igbo guy claimed that he has N20m inside his shop, I just want him to confirm it so I can go and get my digging tools.

state housing authority should be held responsible,they must have taken bribe to allow the house stay.