Collapsed building: LASG must prosecute those responsible ― Bode George

FORMER Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, on Wednesday, paid visit to victims of the collapsed building on Lagos Island, who are currently receiving treatment at the General Hospital on Broad Street, urging the state government to ensure that all those responsible for the sad incident were prosecuted.

A building in Ita Faji on Lagos Island, in which a private school was located, had collapsed last week, leaving 20 people and mainly school pupils dead, with several others injured.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to the affect victims in different wards of the hospital, George, while saying it was understandable that the state authorities could not be everywhere, maintained that those saddles with the responsibility must be held accountable.

According to him, what happened was purely criminal offence for an agency of government to mark a building for distress and uninhabitable but refused to put the building down for some selfish reasons which eventually claimed so many lives.

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“What happened is a pure criminal offence, for an agency of government to mark a building for distress and uninhabitable but refused to put the building down for some selfish reasons which eventually claimed so many lives.

“Whatever you have to do, do it right for a right reason. Those people who died were as a result of some people’s incompetent, greed and lack of commitment. I am sure none of their children is involved but they need to know that whatever they sow, they will reap.

“If such happened in a developed society, those responsible will be charged for criminal negligence and will be punished. That will serve as a lesson to others. To me it must not be swept under the carpet, those responsible must be brought to book,” Chief George said.

Speaking further, he said his worry stemmed from the fact that the Ita Faji incident repeat of what happened at St. John School Aroloya in 1954 when the school collapsed, noting that it was sad to be witnessing a repeat of such incident in 2019 which equally led to shutting down of primary schools across the State then.

“The reason why I am so worried is that this is a repeat of what happened at St. John School Aroloya in 1954 when the school collapsed. I can remember the government closed all the primary schools and to be witnessing the repeat of such incident in 2019 makes me sad,” he lamented.

George, however, urged the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, who happened to be former governor of Lagos State, to offer some of the empty buildings in the state to the affected victims on a temporary basis.

“Fashola should please show some compassion by allowing victims of building collapse to reside in the empty buildings in the state pending the time they will recover and get a new apartment.

“When I went recently for the election, I saw what Fashola has built in the area. Now in the interest of humanity, because his father is also from that area, he has built a lot of houses that are empty in the past five or six years. Let him show some modicum of humanity and let some of these people stay there until they can get alternative accommodation and they won’t forget him, not to sit down in Abuja. That’s what is called a sense of belonging I wish I have houses there.

“He has this mansion that is empty from Isale Igangan all the way to Ita Faji. He should allow them on humanitarian purpose to move in there until they can get alternative places.

“He also grew up there. So let him try and allow them free of charge it won’t cost him anything because already those houses are empty,” George pleaded.

The PDP chieftain equally charged the Governor-elect, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, to ensure that he turned Lagos Island into a modern area like his predecessors namely Fashola and the incumbent, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode did to Surulere and Epe respectively.

“There is a need for a change and the challenge we give. Because Sanwo-Olu too has his family house on Omidundun Street. The outgoing governor, Ambode, if you go to Epe, the place is no longer the sleeping village. He has modernised it. Fashola headed to Surulere, it is no longer the old Surulere. I am throwing a challenge on the face of Sanwo-Olu to also modernise Lagos Island. The first Local Government in Nigeria was City Hall. I hope he would have the nerve, the gut, the drive, this would be a pointer to whatever legacy he would leave and we would hold him fully responsible for it. I wish our state well. And I think our people are already getting to a point where they know there must be a change,” he said.