Tragedy struck in Abeokuta on Saturday when a 51-year-old woman, Mrs. Modupe Bankole, was killed as a storey building in Olomore, Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State suddenly collapsed.
It was gathered that the victim, a mother of three, lost her life in the incident when a concrete railings of part of the storey building gave way and suddenly fell on her.
When our correspondent visited the scene of the incident, tenants in the house were seen moving their belongings out of the building.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning, Yetunde Dina, who also visited the scene, said that the state government would investigate the cause of the collapse of the building.
Dina noted that the ministry would deploy engineers to the site to check if the remaining part of the structure was still intact, adding that if found defective it would be brought down .
The victim’s husband , Mr. Samuel Bankole, told our correspondent that he and his late wife had been residing in the house in the past 12 years.
Mr Bankole, a teacher at the Army Children School, Lafenwa, Abeokuta, said that he was preparing his lesson note when the deck of the building suddenly collapsed.
He noted that the building was being managed by a caretaker since the owner of the house died about two and half years ago.
He said ,”My wife told me in the house that she was going to prepare food. After finishing the preparation, she came to me and took a small mat and a pillow and spread it out to take some fresh air. She spread it even very far away from the collapsed decking.
“I was preparing my own note of lesson that time. I told her that when I finished writing, I would join her there. When I finished, I came out. Few children were moving up and down there until suddenly a neighbour called them and sent them on errand.
“My last child came back from his place of apprenticeship and even slept beside his mother. He later left to see a friend. Shortly after, I just heard the sound of the collapsed decking over my head. I believed that since my wife was not directly under that thing, she was safe and I just ran outside and started shouting ‘Thank you Jesus.” he added.
Bankole, who said his wife was hit by pieces of broken blocks from the building, noted that his wife died shortly after she got to the hospital.
Similarly, there was pandemonium at the Leme area of Abeokuta, when another building was said to have collapsed on Sunday night .
It was learnt that the developer had directed the contractor in charge of the construction of the building to pull down the structure to avoid mishap because he observed that substandard materials were used.
