Report to police, Ambode orders developers
By Ime Akpan
Lagos
Twelve more bodies were recovered yesterday from the debris of the five-storey building that collapsed in Lekki, Lagos on Tuesday, bringing the number to 30.
Eighteen bodies were pulled out from the rubbles on Tuesday, while 12 were recovered around 2.30pm yesterday from the building developed by the Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited.
Spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said “no other person has been rescued alive today (yesterday), while rescue operation still continues.”
Similarly, the general manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mr. Michael Akindele, said rescue operation was still ongoing and that more bodies had been removed from the debris with no survivor.
Akindele also confirmed that 30 dead bodies had so far been removed from the collapsed building with only 13 survivors.
Meanwhile, Lagos state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has advised the directors of Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited to submit themselves to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police within the next 24 hours or face immediate arrest.
In a press statement issued on Wednesday and signed by the commissioner for information and strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the governor also said preliminary reports and investigation showed that the collapsed building was served contravention notice for exceeding the approved floors and thereafter sealed off the Lagos State Building Control Agency.
The statement added that it was discovered that “in a brazen act of defiance and impunity, the owners of the building, Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, the promoters of Lekki Gardens, criminally unsealed the property and continued building beyond the approved floors until the unfortunate incident of Tuesday which has led to loss of lives.”
