Residents of Umuahia, the Abia State capital, have called for a thorough investigation into the remote and immediate causes of a building collapse in the capital last Saturday.
The three-storey uncompleted building located around the Federal Low Cost Housing Estate crumbled in the early hours of the fateful day with no fatalities.
The occupants of a nearby building which was affected by the incident, Mrs Blessing Ugochukwu, her daughter Chiamaka, 8, and six months old son, Great, survived the disaster.
Narrating their experiences, the residents stated that the collapse may not have been ordinary, given the strange sound they had heard before and the way “the building just crumbled into a rubble.”
Speaking at a private hospital where she was admitted along with her children, for treatment, Mrs. Ugochukwu said a thunder-like sound waked them up before the building collapsed.
A 74-year old farmer and former Biafran soldier, Onuoha Ogwo Obasi (Pa Triple Oh) said his mind “raced back to about this time in 1969 during the Nigeria Civil War when the Nigerian side bombed our camp”.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP at the scene, a building contractor, Philip Uwasonmba, who said he was not convinced of any other cause than man-made underlined the need for such an investigation.
He asked, “Haven’t we in recent times been seeing similar incidents across other parts of the country. Has there been any that appeared as if the collapse was triggered and guided?”
An avowed member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party from Abam in Arochukwu local government area, Aguwa Idika said apart from either technical, structural or execution defects,”there could be political angle to it.”
”Without pointing fingers at anyone, this could be a subtle attack from either within or without by political enemies of the owner of the building, Ikechi Emenike, an All Progressives Congress chieftain”, he added.
In a contribution, a National Youth Service Corps member from the northern part of the country, who pleaded anonymity, noted that “the sound that preceded the collapse was deafening and frightening”.
”Yes, to me it was unusual. That is why I submit that the investigation should stretch beyond the scene because the cause of the colossal collapse might be located away from here.”
In the opinion of Farooq Adewale, who said he is a tiler from a neighbouring French-speaking country, no stone should be left unturned in the investigation for the future safety of all.
According to him, “a cause that led to such a collapse, be it environmental, structural, natural, man-made or what have you, cannot be dismissed without being identified”.
