One of the school children who died in Wednesday’s Lagos school building collapse actually told his mum in the morning that he didn’t want to go to school on the day, being his birthday.
A three-storeyed building including the Ohen Nursery and Primary School, Ita Faji, Lagos Island, collapsed on Wednesday morning, killing at least 12 people as of yesterday’s count.
When SR visited the scene, families and neighbours of the victims were heard giving accounts of what might have been done to avert the incident.
One parent who became an emergency worker overnight told Sahara Reporters: “I have rescued my five-year-old son, he survived; now I'm here to help others but the LASEMA officials are making things very difficult and slow.”
He added that another child killed in the accident might have been alive had events gone another way.
“Today is the boy’s birthday; he said he didn't want to go to school because it's his birthday but his mother insisted. He was among those that first died.”
Another said: “A woman couldn't afford fees so she came to beg in the morning but the proprietor turned her back with her child; she has just heard what happened and is thanking God.”
Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has insisted that his son-in-law and candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Uche Nwosu won Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
“I say so because going by the actual calculation, the person that won this election is
Ugwumba Uche Nwosu. He won the election landslide, if you remove the manipulation results from Mbaise, Uche Nwosu won with over 50,000 votes, if you cannot declare him a winner because you have someone already, then they should go for a rerun because you cannot change the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because you want to favour a candidate,” he insisted.
He said Uche Nwosu was rigged out of victory by the Governor-elect Emeka Ihedioha in connivance with Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Professor Francis Ezeonu.
He accused Ezeonu of working for PDP, saying he wrecked democracy with his complicity in alleged electoral manipulations. According to him: “The REC has shown he was brought to Imo after the 2015 election to return PDP to power in the state.
“The REC had acted illegally by ignoring the provision of the Constitution that makes it mandatory for a candidate to have 25 percent in 2/3 of the Local Governments in the State by announcing the PDP candidate, Emeka Ihedioha who only met the requirement in 9 Local Governments instead of 18 LGAs which is 2/3 of 27 LGAs winner.”
Okorocha also wondered why the REC should accept the outrageous figures from the three Local Governments Areas of Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu Mbaise and Ezinihitte where the PDP candidate got 64,219 votes from Aboh Mbaise alone.
He stated that the figures from the three LGAs constituted 50 percent of the total votes got by the PDP candidate in the State with 27 LGAs.
“In the course of this manipulation, we all observed that the REC decided not to use the collation officers from Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), which he disbanded for reasons he gave that they have met with politicians.
“Again, he brought some people whom he introduced from the University of Agriculture, Umudike.
“They arrived just a night before the election date and we thought we have gotten the collation officers. Again, those ones were disbanded on the same reason that they have met with politicians, I wonder how this is possible having arrived the state after midnight on the election eve.
“Now the REC went to his own University in Awka to bring in collation officers. We believed him not knowing that he brought people he has been training for a hatched job for some weeks now in Anambra State to come and carry out this injustice in Imo State.
“These men arrived with heavy security from Anambra and went straight to the various Local Governments. We never knew that these were relatives of the PDP candidate and from the same Local Government. These are relatives of the PDP Candidate who were already briefed of what to do.
“This explains the over voting witnessed in Mbaise. Out of the 270,000 votes that he scored, 50 percent of it or over 130,000 all came from just three local governments of Mbaise”, he stated.
Okorocha added, “As far as I am concerned and we still maintain that REC has wrecked democracy in Imo State. Unfortunately for them, they were not smart enough to know that section 179 requires you to have a spread at least in 2/3 of the local governments before you can be declared a winner.
“They ended up with only 9 local governments instead of 18 required by law. The Returning Officer was advised by all the Senior Staff of INEC against declaring a winner without looking at the Constitution.
“This man in a hurry decided to announce the result against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“This is wrong, in doing so, the Returning Officer didn’t even consider the results cancelled, total voters cancelled in the different Polling Booths, was enough to declare the election inconclusive as the difference between the PDP and AA would have called for a supplementary election. With the speed with which he announced the result tells you that the man is part of the game. This again is unacceptable to all of us,” he said.
Woman Sergeant Justina Aghomon, said to be pregnant, was killed with colleagues on Tuesday by some yet-to-be identified gunmen who attacked Afuze Police Station in Edo State. How sad!
The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the Federal Government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are planning to use soldiers to rig the rerun governorship elections slated for March 23 in six states by INEC.
The party said it based its conclusion on what it experienced during the rerun of the governorship election in Osun State, where it alleged that security men barred journalists, observers and voters who wanted to vote for the PDP from gaining access to polling units.
The PDP also accused INEC of working in tandem with the ruling party to deny it victory in states where it claimed the voters trooped out in large numbers to vote for its candidates.
It would be recalled that the commission on Tuesday named states where such rerun elections would hold as Kano, Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau, Benue and Sokoto States.
But the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, who spoke with The Punch in Abuja on Wednesday, asked Nigerians and the international community to pay attention to what he described as “antics of the APC and INEC to deny Nigerians the opportunity to freely elect their leaders.”
He said it was strange that the Nigeria Army allowed itself to be used by politicians who, he claimed, were out to dent the image of the security agencies.
He described what happened in Rivers State during last Saturday’s governorship election as pathetic and called on Nigerians to demand the withdrawal of the military from the state.
Secondus said it was because the APC and the Federal Government allegedly relied on guns instead of the people that they had been boasting.
He said, “Nigerians will recall what happened during the rerun of the Osun State governorship election where masked security men from the Department of State Services and policemen took over the polling units and centres.
“Nigerians saw the evil that happened there as the security men barred supporters of the PDP from gaining access to the polling centres. However, both Nigerians and the international community saw how security agents served as aides to members of the APC as they walked freely to the polling centres.
“That is what they are now planning to do on March 23. Some governors of the APC met with President Muhammadu Buhari this week. We know the issues discussed at the secret meeting.
“This was why none of those at the meeting was ready to brief journalists afterwards. They are planning to harrass voters, using the military, especially the army and the DSS, in the affected polling units and thereby take the states by force.
“We will not allow this to happen. We will not surrender the mandates that were freely given to us by Nigerians to the enemies of democracy in the country.
“INEC, the APC and the Federal Government knew that we won in almost all the six states, but because it would be glaring that we were robbed of victory, they are now calling for rerun elections.”
Winners in the February 23 National Assembly elections are to get certificates of return (CoR) today at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja between 10am and 2pm.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, 102 senators-elect will get their certificates first and 338 would-be House of Representatives members will be issued theirs.
Going by the list of candidates, the APC now has
63 senators, the PDP now has 38 and Youth Progressives Party (YFP) has a seat. Seven seats have been declared inconclusive and will be contested for during the supplementary election slated for March 23.
For the lower chamber, the ruling party also has the majority with 211 members. The PDP has 111 members.
Other political parties share the remaining 16 seats - APGA has six; African Democratic Congress (ADC) three; Action Alliance (AA) two and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) two. African Democratic Party (ADP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) have one slot each.
Twenty-two seats are still up for grabs where elections were declared inconclusive. Make-up polls in the affected Federal Constituencies have been fixed for March 23.
The two major parties – APC and PDP – will be slugging it out in six states where elections were declared inconclusive. They are: Sokoto, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kano, Plateau and Benue.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court yesterday remanded Emmanuel Abdon, Victor Talofari and Leonard Justice, following their arraignment for allegedly abducting and r*aping a 16-year-old girl.
Prosecuting Inspector Rachael Donny said the defendants committed the offence on January 30 at the Army Cantonment, Ikeja. She alleged that the defendants abducted the girl from her guardian, lodged her in their house and had s*x with her.
Donny said the girl was abducted when she was sent to Mammy Market to buy pepper. She alleged that the defendants locked the girl in a room and r*ped her for four days.
The prosecutor said the defendants released her after four days. She said the girl’s guardian reported the case to the police and the defendants were arrested.\
Magistrate B.O. Osunsanmi refused to take the defendants’ plea “because this court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.” She ordered that they be remanded in Kirikiri and adjourned till April 8.
They will be in prison, pending advice by Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The Police leadership in Oyo State have arrested the Chief Whip of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Wasiu Olafisoye Akinmoyede, in connection with the shocking murder of a senatorial candidate, Hon. Temitope Olatoye a.k.a. Sugar.
Akinmoyede’s arrest brought the number of those nabbed to two.
Olatoye was representing Lagelu/Akinyele federal constituency in the lower chamber of the National Assembly. Akinmoyede is representing Lagelu state constituency.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Olugbenga Fadeyi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), earlier said he was not aware of the development.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Olagunju Ojo, confirmed the arrest. He said the House was notified through a letter.
Ojo said: “I am not aware that he has been taken to Abuja. I am only aware that he is under investigations but I am not aware whether he has been taken to Abuja or not.”
The InStyle Dinner brought out a bevy of stars to New York City on Wednesday. And fashion icon Ciara commanded attention on the red carpet as she was being honored for gracing the cover of April's issue of the publication.
The 33-year-old pop superstar showed off her wild side in an animal print ensemble as she was joined by her husband Russell Wilson.
Daring to impress, the Body Slam singer flaunted her famous curves as the couture number boasted a plunging neckline.
Shutting it down! Jose Canseco’s ex-wife Jessica Canseco insisted there is not any truth to his recent accusation that Alex Rodriguez cheated on Jennifer Lopez with her.
“Those false accusations Jose is making are not true!” the Hollywood Exes alum, 46, tweeted. “I have known Alex for many years and haven’t even seen him for over 5. I certainly did not sleep with him. I am friendly with both him and Jennifer. As for Jose he can keep playing with his Alien friends.” (Jose tweeted about meeting with aliens and Bigfoot earlier this year.)
In a second tweet, she added, “In fact I don’t even get on twitter had to download app again and don’t watch tv and had no idea any of this was going on. Last time I saw Alex he was with Torrie [Wilson] and I brought my boyfriend over for dinner. We are just friends my god.”
Jose, 54, claimed in a series of tweets on Sunday, March 10, that Rodriguez, 43, cheated on new fiancée Lopez, 49, with Jessica, to whom the former Oakland A’s player was married from 1996 to 1999.
“Watching World of Dance watching J.Lo text Alex Rodriguez little does she know that he is cheating on her with my ex-wife Jessica poor girl she has no idea who he really is,” he wrote. “I was there a few months back with her when he called her on her phone. Alex Rodriguez stop being a piece of s–t.”
The Cuba native then tweeted his phone number so the Grammy winner could call him to learn “the truth.” So petty!
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to take over the operatorship of the entire Oil Mining Lease 11 from Shell Petroleum Development Company.
According to a letter from State House, Abuja, to the Group Managing Director of NNPC, dated March 1, 2019, and signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, the President’s directive was clearly stated that the entire operatorship of OML 11 should be taken over by the NNPC/Nigeria Petroleum Development Company not later than April 30, 2019.
NPDC is the flagship oil exploration and production subsidiary of the NNPC and the liaison office of the company acknowledged receipt of the letter on March 5, 2019.
OML 11 lies in the southeastern Niger Delta and contains 33 oil and gas fields of which eight are producing as per 2017. In terms of production, it is one of the most important blocks in Nigeria.
The terrain is swampy to the south with numerous rivers and creeks. Port Harcourt is located in the northwest of the block, while the major yard and logistics base at Onne is located by the Bonny River. The Bonny oil terminal – the largest in Nigeria – and Nigeria LNG (NLNG) are both located at Bonny.
When contacted, the Media Relations Manager, Shell Nigeria, Bamidele Odugbesan, declined to comment on the matter, as he told The Punch that he would not speak on the issue.
The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) on Wednesday vowed to conduct free, fair and credible supplementary election in the state on March 23.
According to a statement by INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Riskuwa Shehu Arabu, the supplementary elections would determine the winner of Kano governorship election.
Cases of violence and over voting invoked the decision to cancel some ballots.
He added that the gubernatorial election was inconclusive, stressing the election did not produce a winner.
“The Commission wishes to reiterate its commitment to the conduct of free, fair and credible election in the State. It also wishes to inform the general public that the Supplementary Election would be conducted on Saturday 23rd March, 2019,” Riskuwa stated.
He explained the cancellation of results in some units located within some local Government Areas was due to violence and over voting, which lead to cancellations of results in 210 Polling Units which constitutes 88 Registration Areas, adding that the affected Polling Units has a total number of 128,572 registered voters.
The Kano REC said the contenders with the highest votes are the candidates of the All Progressive Congress with 987,819 and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party with 1,014, 474 votes.
The PDP is currently leading with 26, 655 while 128,572 votes were cancelled.
No fewer than 18 persons died yesterday when a four-storey building collapsed on Lagos Island. 41 others were injured. The incident occurred at No 14, Massey Street, Opposite Oja, Ita-Faaji.
The building, housing Ohen Private Nursery and Primary School on its third floor, caved in at about 10:20am, trapping scores of pupils.
The large number of casualties sparked a shortage of blood...
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, who confirmed the casualty figure, said many of the rescued were taken to Lagos Island General Hospital, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), among others.
Idris said rescue efforts will continue today.
According to Lagos State Emergency management Agency (LASEMA) General Manager Adeshina Tiamiyu, over 41 people were rescued from the rubble of the building, which had been marked for demolition since 2014.
An eyewitness, Abayomi Olaniyan, said he was among those rescuing the victims before the official rescue team came.
Olaniyan, said: “Some were rescued alive, some dead. One of the teachers still called shortly that she was on the ground floor of the collapsed building, trapped with 20 pupils.
“Something similar happened around here last year. The issue of building collapse is common here and government must do something about it. Houses will be marked and due for demolition but they will not demolish it; they will renovate it. So many houses here are weak; they are meant to be demolished but they will tell you they are renovating it; they will only paint it.”
An eyewitness, Bola Ogunyemi, said: “The pupils were already lined up from their third floor classes when the school owner noticed that the building was cracking. Before the kids could be arranged from their classes, the building had collapsed”. The school owner and some kids have been taken to the hospital.”
Some youths who are resident in the area were complaining that the rescue efforts were slow. Since they were told to leave the scene, nobody was removed for about 30 minutes, they said at about 5p.m.
The officers and LASEMA officials, the boys said, were not doing enough. Some of the boys were recalled to the scene.
The casualties
The school owner was among the first casualties. She was taken to the General Hospital, where she died after efforts by the medicals to save her proved abortive.
A distraught mother of two victims urged the rescuers to help bring out her son, Luqman, from the rubble. The woman’s daughter, Tobi, had earlier been rescued.
Among the victims is a woman, who called her brother that she was still trapped. She told her brother that the caterpillar was on their floor, pleading that it should be moved back
“I am under the caterpillar. Help tell the driver to move back,” the victim under the rubble told her troubled brother.
An expectant woman was among those that were pulled out of the rubble alive. A man, who was trapped in the building, was said to have come home to eat. He was yet to be rescued as at press time.
A man, Bashiru Alagbala, who came to visit his wife, was brought out dead.
A family of four – father, mother, son and grandson – was also trapped. Father, mother and grandson were rescued but the son was said to be still under the rubble.
A source told The Nation that one of the dead was a pupil, who turned 10 yesterday.
The source said: “Today (yesterday) is his birthday and it is unfortunate that he died today. I learnt that he told his mother that he did not want to go to school today (yesterday). His mother must have seen him as a lazy boy. Sometimes, these little children see what we adults do not see. His mother should have talked about why he did not want to go to school, but I learnt his mother forced him to go and he died. She must be regretting that now.”
Another source said a pair of twin brothers was also trapped in the building. One was said to have died; the other was rescued alive with serious injuries.
A woman, who refused to be named, said her daughter, Azeezat, was still trapped in the rubble. She said she had been to all the hospitals but did not find her.
A former teacher in the school, Bukola Salami, said the building had been shaking since last year.
“I worked in the school for six months and I resigned last December because the building was shaking. When I was in the school, I used to hear sounds as if someone was throwing stones from the walls. The building cracks and the walls shake at times. I told the school owner about my observations, I told her to relocate the school elsewhere, but she said there was no money for the school to be relocated. I resigned last year because of the fear that someday the building might collapse.”
Where are the victims?
A nurse at Massey Street Children Hospital, Lagos Island, told The Nation that some of the victims brought to the hospital were given first aid and transferred to other hospitals for proper medical care.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Titi Gonclaves, told reporters at the Lagos Island General Hospital that five of the 20 early casualties were transferred to other hospitals after being attended to.
At the entrance of the hospital was pasted 41 names of the stable survivors: 22 females, 17 males. Two were unidentified.
Crowd hampered rescue, says Health Commissioner
Commissioner for Health Jide Idris confirmed the casualty figures of 18 deaths and 41 injured.
He lamented that the large number of spectators slowed down rescue efforts and he could not give a definite casualty figure until today.
Idris said: “Our doctors and nurses are working round the clock. A lot of them were mobilised from different hospitals down here. Doctors from federal institutions are also assisting because of the seriousness of this incident.
“We will not be able to give full information now until tomorrow (today) morning. Some have been taken to LASUTH, LUTH and we don’t know if more people will be rescued.
“The state of things now is getting calm than earlier because there were a lot of emotions.
The medical teams have done their best. It would have been done better and faster but for the crowd.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to declare governor Nyesom Wike the winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state.
Relying on the results from the unites, wards and Local Governments where the exercise was successfully held the party chairman, Felix Obuah said, “With the available result from the field, I want to assure you that His Excellency (Wike) has won overwhelmingly and INEC should not waste time in declaring Governor Nyesom Wike the winner and governor-elect of Rivers State.
“We are not worried about what some people are saying; the truth is that with the results from the field, the incumbent governor should be declared governor-elect.”
He claimed that already, INEC has declared PDP legislative candidates winners in the 26 state constituencies and 14 national assembly seats while the African Action Congress (AAC), got no seat, where the election matters have been concluded.
Obuah said, “Anyone can go on air and say they have won, but we are speaking based on evidence, the results INEC had already declared at the grassroots level.
Addressing the party faithful, Obuah thanked residents of the state for demonstrating great faith in Governor Wike by defending their votes and assured them of better and more infrastructural and human capital developments in the 2nd tenure in office.
He said, “The outcome of the governorship and State Assembly Elections of March 9, 2019 proved the love the good people of Rivers State have for our beloved party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“You showed unparalleled love for our party by voting all the way for Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike and all our candidates for the National and State Houses of Assembly elections.
“The results from all polling units and constituencies where the elections were concluded have confirmed and reaffirmed to us that Rivers State is PDP; that PDP is our way of life in Rivers State. You have once again, reposed your total confidence in our party.
“As the Chairman of the PDP, I wish to express and convey the gratitude of our party to the people of Rivers State for this wonderful show of love and support for our Governorship Candidate, Governor Nyesom Wike and the State Assembly Candidates,” he said.
An Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday remanded a 38-year-old electrician, Chukwueke Ashiedu in Kirikiri prison for allegedly defiling his 17-year-old daughter (names withheld) over the last four years.
The court ruled that Ashiedu would remain in prison pending advice of the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Ashiedu is facing a lone count charge of child defilement before Chief Magistrate Olufunke Sule-Amzat.
Prosecuting Inspector Benson Emuerhi, told the court that Ashiedu resident at Haruna area of Ikorodu committed the offence on November, 20, 2015 at his residence.
Emuerhi alleged that the defendant had carnal knowledge of his 17 year-old daughter.
He said the survivor informed her teacher, one Mrs. Caroline of her ordeal in the hands of her father and that the assault started four years ago.
Emuerhi said the matter was later reported at the Gender Section of Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, by the survivor and her teacher.
Chief Magistrate Sule-Amzat did not take the defendant’s plea after the charge was read.
She ordered that he should be kept in Kirikiri Prisons.
She also ordered the Police to send the duplicate of the file to the DPP for advice.
No fewer than nine persons including Nursery and Primary school pupils, lost their lives after a three-storey building caved in, yesterday, at Dagara, street, Ita Faaji, Lagos Island.
However, 24 of them, the majority of who were females were rescued and rushed to the Lagos Island General Hospital, where doctors battled to resuscitate them.
Some of the injured had fractures, bruises and severe cuts on part of their bodies, while scores of others were still trapped under the debris with rescue operators, including residents making frantic efforts to evacuate them, as at 7.45pm. The topmost floor of the three storey building was occupied by Ohel Nursery and Primary school, with a penthouse on it.
The Rivers state chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to declare governor Nyesom Wike the winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state.
The state chairman of the party, Bro. Felix Obuah made the call at the expanded news briefing of the party executives in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Wednesday.
Relying on the results from the unites, wards and Local Governments where the exercise was successfully held Obuah said, “With the available result from the field, I want to assure you that His Excellency (Wike) has won overwhelmingly and INEC should not waste time in declaring Governor Nyesom Wike the winner and governor-elect of Rivers State.
“We are not worried about what some people are saying; the truth is that with the results from the field, the incumbent governor should be declared governor-elect.”
He claimed that already, INEC has declared PDP legislative candidates winners in the 26 state constituencies and 14 national assembly seats while the African Action Congress (AAC), got no seat, where the election matters have been concluded.
A former spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, has dropped the two Senior Advocates of Nigeria leading his defence in his N400m money laundering case before the Federal High Court in Abuja, hiring another lawyer, Mr Abel Ozioko, to take over from them.
Ozioko appeared in the case for the first time on Wednesday.
Metuh’s decision to stop Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu and Mr Emeka Etiaba came barely 24 hours after they filed an application for withdrawal as the defendant’s counsel.
Justice Okon Abang on March 5, 2019 fixed March 13, 2019 for the hearing of the SANs’ application.
But before the scheduled hearing, Metuh stopped them.
Ikpeazu and Etiaba had led his defence since January 2016 when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission preferred the charges against him.
Metuh and his firm, Destra Investment Limited, are being prosecuted by the EFCC on money laundering charges involving allegations that they both fraudulently took the sum N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser “when they reasonably ought to know” that the money was part of the proceeds of alleged criminal act of then NSA, Sambo Dasuki”.
Metuh was also accused of transacting with a cash of $2m without going through a financial institution in violation of a provision of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, Ikpeazu informed the judge that his application seeking an order permitting him and his law firm to withdraw from the case had been overtaken by event following Metuh’s letter stopping his law firm.
