On 12
September 2014, a guest house inside Synagogue church located in Ikotun
collapsed completely killing over one hundred people. On 08 March 2016, a
five-storey building belonging to Lekki Gardens also collapsed. At least thirty
people died. On 10 December 2016, Reigners Bible Church International in Uyo
collapsed during the ordination of the pastor as a Bishop. The Sun newspaper of
11 December 2016 put the casualty figure at one hundred. All the three
structures were under construction which means construction was poorly done.
This also means that someone or group of persons were not doing their job well
or are grossly incompetent.
The synagogue
incident happened two years ago, it was a disaster of international dimension
because other nationalities were involved with South Africa topping the
casualty figures. Till date, no one has been successfully prosecuted. Instead,
what we have is a coroner’s report that recommended prosecution and the church
rejecting the report. Just like that, case closed. The lives lost regardless.
The MD of
Lekki gardens was not as lucky as the helmsman of the synagogue church; he was
arrested and detained briefly before he was released. He lacks anointing hence
the reason why he was ‘touched’ in the first place. We were told after his
release that the prosecution of the contractor and other accomplices would
begin soon. Interestingly, the ‘soon’ came in form of the usual political sound
bites four days after the Uyo incident. That I must say is a proactive way to
shield the Lagos State government of expected backlash because the Uyo incident
leaves room for scrutiny of other similar events in the past especially more
recent ones.
I was
impressed when barely after a week after the incident the state government
wielded the big stick against four Lagos State Building Control Agency officials.
I thought it was a good move because it will serve as a deterrent to other
civil servants who act unprofessionally. It now appears that that the momentum
has lost steam. The sacked officials may be the collaborators but shall we make
scapegoats out of them alone and leave the real perpetrators?
The Lagos state
government said it has concluded plans after investigation to commence the
prosecution of the culpable persons. Please note that this is not the
announcement of the start of the trial nine months after the incident but an
announcement of the intention to prosecute. This kind of quick and efficient
investigation just takes my breath away. As usual, the dilly dally has begun,
the precious lives lost regardless.
Now to the
main reason for this piece, the Reigners Bible church collapse in Uyo. This
most recent national tragedy is similar to the previous events I highlighted
but also very unique. The state Governor was present and reports have it that
he narrowly escaped. While it is not out of place to also be thankful to God
for sparing his life while mourning those that died, I think it is of greater
importance that Governor Udom takes the lesson and the implications to heart
and act accordingly.
I will use
the story of Esther, Mordecai and the Jews because I know he will be able to
identify with that story. Queen Esther was faced with the temptation of turning
a blind eye and giving excuses for not saving the Jews from ethnic cleansing,
her reasons where legit because it was not the time for her to see the King and
if she broke the protocol, she would be killed. This is the same way that
pressure will mount on the Governor to let the case die a natural death as
Nigerians are forgetful and forgiving people. Some will even say to him just
like the pastor of the church said in an interview after the incident that we
can’t question God. True, but God was not the contractor neither was HE the one
that disobeyed the ‘stop work’ order served by the Uyo Capital City Development
Authority (UCCDA) in 2014 as reported.
The governor
should take a cue from Mordecai who told Esther to consider the fact that she
may have become queen for the sole purpose of saving the Jews so no excuse or
inaction, no matter how tenable would suffice. The Uyo building collapse
presents Governor Udom the privilege to do good, save lives and forestall
avoidable deaths in the future, get justice for the dead and change for good
the way projects are managed in his state. If he allows this incident to go
without commensurate punitive measures to anyone found culpable, we may yet see
another event of similar nature in his state just like the Synagogue and Lekki
gardens incidents in Lagos. This is not a time to quote Nahum 1:9 out of
context which is about afflictions not rising again the second time as I have
seen in several posts on social media by gullible people using it as a shield
to avoid tackling the root cause and making those in charge of the construction
accountable for their actions or inactions that led to the collapse.
If Governor
Udom does not want the summary of this sad event to be ‘after a while, the
incident was forgotten, no one was prosecuted and just like that, case closed.
Lives lost regardless’ he should always remember the lives lost and say to
himself ‘it could have been me’. This should spur him to action.
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