Nigerians have been fully focused all week about the 21 storey building on 44 B,C,D Gerrard Road Ikoyi, also known as Gerrard towers which collapsed while still under construction.
From the number of people buried in it’s rubbles, to the number of survivors, the actual number of bodies recovered from the rubbles which is 40 as at the time of writing this article, including Femi Osibona, the Managing Director of Fourscore Heights and the developer of three highrises including the collapsed one.
Other controversial issues that has arisen from the unfortunate incident is the speculation about the actual number of floors approved for construction, with both the suspended general manager of Lagos State Building Control Agency, Gbolahan Oki and the deputy governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat contradicting themselves.
There is also the issue of the use of substandard materials used for constructing the highrise, how Osibona was arrested for resisting attempts to inspect the construction site by Lagos State government officials as well as how the initial structural consultants, Prowess Engineering Limited, pulled out of the project mid way, following the derailment of Osibona from the vision of the project.
These and many has dominated the news with attempts by some of the aforementioned individuals trying to make an exoneration case for themselves.
While not discarding the importance of sound, safe and ethical engineering as it concerns the collapsed building which was still under construction, there is a huge possibility of suspected foul play in the way and manner the building collapsed, killing the promoter of the building and other persons who were within and around that building also sent to an early grave.
For a well accomplished man who rose from nothing, a shoe seller precisely, to a developer of international repute, building highrises in South Africa and the United Kingdom, Osibona would no doubt have been a man to be envied.
And it isn’t unlikely that some people could have hatched a plan to stop him from further achieving more heights he had set his eyes on.
And so there is no ruling out the possiblity that Osibona may have been silenced and the collapsed building and the people who were in and around the building were just collateral damage.
This becomes all the more tenable especially as it concerns the way and manner the building collapsed.
Naturally, in most cases, when a building of that magnitude falls, not only does it make a loud noise, it falls and tilts sideways. But in the case of the Ikoyi building, not only was the noise not as loud as expected, the building fell in a stacked up manner akin to something called controlled demolition.
Controlled demolition otherwise known as building implosion is the demolition of a building or structure by means of an IED explosive placed strategically within a building and timing of its detonation so that a structure collapses on itself in a matter of seconds, minimizing the physical damage to its immediate surroundings.
This is more less how the now famous Gerrard building collapsed.
The suspicion is even more heightened especially because the other two towers which were already fully completed didn’t collapse and still stands strong, yet it was the third one which had the promoter right in it that collapsed.
Experts in the engineering, security, political and business field spoken to were unanimous in their suspicion.
They are of the opinion that rivals, in the field where he operates in may have thought it best to simply get the competition out of the way once and for all.
While he may have not been a politician, Osibona may have inadvertently, stepped on the toes of some powerful politicians who are known to do unimaginable things to silence anyone who they believe gives them sleepless nights.
It isn’t unlikely, especially with the prevailing security situation in the country where the value of life is now next to nothing and perpetrators of such high level evil never get apprehended.
The security expert is of the opinion that in a situation like this, all hands of every government agency must be on deck to unravel the mystery behind the collapsed building.
From the police, to the department of state security, officials from these two organisations should have been part of the first responders at the scene of the incidence.
But up till date, they gave been no where near the scene but have been instead, drafted to Anambra State for the governorship election holding today.
The Inspector General of Police who visited the scene briefly, didn’t make any strong statement about investigating the incidence.
The governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo Olu set up a six man panel to investigate the cause of the building collapse. Not one member from the security agencies was drafted to be a member of that panel.
The police which has a well equipped forensic laboratory should by now, have taken sample items from the site of the collapsed building for thorough investigation to enable them know what the remote cause of the collapse is.
In developed countries, particularly in the US, the FBI, the police etc are always involved in incidences of such magnitude, regardless of wether it is a private property, a private individual, a public property or a public individual. They don’t just stand aloof and allow the state government handle it all by themselves.
They quiz everyone imaginable.
The governor needs to involve all arms of security agencies especially if he needs to absolve his government of complicity.
Vice president Yemi Osinbajo who has been inadvertently ropped into the whole incidence should use his office to get the DSS involved to do their own bit of investigation.
These security agencies who will work hand in hand with building and engineering experts, will among other things, determine the remote cause of the collapse and also rule out or otherwise, any suspicion of foul play.
But alas! This is Nigeria where things never get done properly and powers that be prefer not to unravel hidden mysteries.
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