IKOYI: Survivor dismantling pillar when building came down said they acted as Osibona, engineers instructed

A survivor of the Ikoyi building collapse in Lagos has revealed what they were doing at the time the 21-story building came down on over 40 people in the building on Nov 1.

Premium Times which interviewed the labourer in hospital withheld his name for security reasons.

The newspaper also reported he was warned not to discuss the incident with anyone.

“I was working with my colleague. I have been told not to tell anybody. That day, we were working on the first floor, Engineer Kola and Engineer Ola told us there is one pillar on the first floor, the pillar was cracked, the engineers told us to break the pillar so that they could fix another pillar there because the pillar is really big they have confidence that nothing would happen to the pillar if they set another one,” the newspaper quoted him.

“Suddenly we heard a noise, the thing (pillar) started to shake, I and Monday (another labourer) ran when we saw that the pillar was starting to shake. When I was running, I fell down I was struggling to come out.

“When I ran outside, the gateman saw me, he now called a bike man. I ran out before the rescue operatives came in. The owner of the house (Femi Osibona) knows (knew) about the pillar, that it was cracked. He told the two engineers to ask us to break it. He was aware, he saw us, he even gave us money for food (breakfast). He saw us there when we were working on it.”

The Lagos state governent has set up a panel backed by law to probe the immediate and remote cause of the collapse.

No fewer than 44 dead victims have been recovered so far, with more than 10 survivors.