Kwara Building Collapsed Some Minutes After 5am – Survivor

A survivor of a two-storey building that collapsed in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Tuesday, Alh Kudus Olanrewaju, has recounted the ordeal of his family.

Kudus, who was surrounded by sympathisers when our reporter visited his Jekidiro family house, Popo Giwa, Ilorin, on Wednesday, said his junior brother and a sergeant in the Nigerian Army, Bolakale Kudus, lost his wife and four children to the incident.

Kudus said, “My junior brother, a sergeant in the Nigerian Army, just came home on medical leave from his Akure, Ondo State station when the unfortunate incident happened. He lost his wife and four children to the incident. The incident only affected my brother’s apartment. Seventeen of us are living in the building.

“As I speak with you, we have not been able to inform the in-laws of my brother, who are indigenes of Abeokuta in Ogun State, of the death of their daughter and her four children “.

He recounted that the incident happened some minutes after 5:00 am, just after the first call to prayer from the community’s Mosque, adding that his soldier brother was in the bathroom performing ablution, preparatory for the morning prayer, when the building caved in.

“I was inside the building, it was early hours on Tuesday, precisely some minutes after 5: am. The first call to prayer has been made by the Ladan.

“I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God that I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.

“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t know what had happened.

“At the end of the day, I now discovered that it was the Boys Quarters attached to the main building that collapsed, where my younger brother, who is a staff sergeant in the Nigerian Army and eight members of the family were trapped in the building. I noticed that he was also awake and about to perform his ablution. He was the first person to be rescued alive.

Kudus disclosed that five members of the family who were evacuated from the trapped debris and rushed to the hospital later died and have been buried at Oko- Olowo Muslim cemetery.

“I have lost my children, I lost their mother and four of them.  Only my brother, who is a staff sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them. The remaining three are responding to treatment in the hospital,” he added.

Kudus appealed to the Kwara State government to come to the aid of the survivors receiving treatment in the hospital, even as he lamented that the collapse of the said building has left the family with a double jeopardy of having to mourn their loved ones and contend with accommodation challenges.

“The building is gone”, he lamented, adding that” the building had existed for more than 70 years, providing shelter to the family before the incident of Tuesday.

LEADERSHIP reports that the combined teams of the Kwara State Fire Service, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the police carried out the rescue operation at the scene of the incident on Tuesday.

The spokesperson of the State Fire Service, Hakeem Adekunle, confirmed the death of four victims, adding that four other victims were rescued alive.

The state commissioner of police, Adekimi Ojo, said the remaining occupants of the building have been evacuated.

But, Kudus told our reporter on Wednesday that five victims actually died from the incident.

Kudus was corroborated by Prof. Abubakir Imam Ali-Agan, who conducted the burial prayer.

Ali- Agan, a fierce preacher and lecturer at the Islamic Department, University of Ilorin, confirmed that he performed the burial prayer on five victims of the building collapse.