IKOYI: Sanwo-Olu, NEMA fight over body counts

NEMA supervisor Ibrahim Farinloye and Lagos Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu were at loggerheads Thursday while dispensing information on casualty figures at the site of a 21-storey building that crumbles at Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday.

While the governor, known as Incident Commander, announced 32 as the number of dead victims, NEMA bumped its own body count to 38.

Both however agreed on the number of those rescued alive: nine.

“Let’s understand what the chain of command is,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“This is a Lagos state site, so the chain of command and control lies with the ministry of health, they are the ones that have taken corpses to the morgue, so they are accountable. And the people who are moving morgue are staff of the Lagos State.”

“We understand and appreciate that there are other agencies…government agencies that are collaborating with us. We said that we have only one official channel of communication.”