David Aina, a distraught father, has demanded justice after the scaffolding tank from a two-story building under renovation collapsed and killed his son, Tosin, his son’s guardian, Funmi Olaoye, and her son, Ayo, in Lagos State’s Bariga area.
The 59-year-old father stated that he was in Oyo State when a Reverend from the church Olaoye had been attending in Lagos State called to inform him that his son had been hospitalized due to an accident.
He said, “It was when I got to Lagos from Igbo Ora in Oyo State that I discovered that the reservoir at the back of the house my son and his guardian were staying collapsed and landed on the bungalow housing their apartment.
“My son, his guardian and the child of the guardian were at home when the reservoir collapsed. Only the guardian survived; my son and the guardian’s child died.”
Explaining further, David said the guardian, who was paralysed as a result of the incident, had been hospitalised at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, adding that she had not been informed that her only child died when the building collapsed.
Explaining further, David said the guardian, who was paralysed as a result of the incident, had been hospitalised at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, adding that she had not been informed that her only child died when the building collapsed.
“What I want now is for the right thing to be done, which is what will favour the guardian who is currently hospitalised at Igbobi Hospital. She is paralysed in both hands; she also suffered an injury in her spinal cord. She can hardly move but has been talking.
“We have been trying to secure the release of my son and the guardian’s child for burial but the police said an autopsy has to be performed on the corpses and that a court will have to grant a permit for the corpses to be buried.
“The police said the government is now in charge of the whole situation. It was the police that took the corpses to the Mainland Hospital. But when we got to the mortuary, the attendants told us to pay N100,000 for the corpses to be embalmed.
“The attendants also asked us to pay N5,000 daily for the corpses to remain in the mortuary. I want justice for the victims including my son. As for the owner of the house where the incident happened, it is up to the government to decide what they want to do with him,” David said.
The aggrieved father, alongside other members of the family, appealed to the government to prosecute the owner of the building that caused the tragic incident that claimed the lives of the victims, adding that Olaoye’s medical bills should also be funded by the owner of the house.
In a chat with our correspondent, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin said, “He (engineer) has not been charged to court; investigation is still ongoing. We are expecting some results from Lagos State Building Control Agency, and others that will help the investigation.
“The mortuary charging the family is not on us; I cannot intervene in that but if they have been asked to go to court and swear an affidavit to request for the body, they should do that. If they do all the necessary things, the body will be released to them.”
Efforts to get the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, for a reaction proved abortive as calls to his phone were unanswered.
Punch
