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Lagos Building Collapse: Sanwo-Olu Says Rescuing More Survivors Now Extremely Tough, As Death Toll Hits 42

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It is unlikely that anyone still trapped in the Ikoyi, Lagos collapsed building can be brought out alive a week after, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said late Friday.

The governor, on a fresh inspection of the site, told Channels Television that the chances of rescuing more victims alive at the scene was extremely tough.

Sanwo-Olu was back at the site again yesterday with the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.

He put the death toll at 42, those registered as missing at 49, and survivors at 15.

Among the survivors are six new ones who are currently being treated at the Police Hospital in Falomo, Ikoyi.

He named them as 38-year-old Glory Samsom, Ndajor Ahmed, Yunusa Abubakar, Ajiboye Habib, Jeremiah Samson, and one man identified as Emem.

He said: “There are additional six people that we’ve also been able to identify and who were on site when the building collapsed. They were taken to the Police Hospital in Falomo for treatment and some of them have been discharged.

“We have taken the full records of survivors in the incident. And this gives a total of 15 people rescued alive. We have a total of 42 bodies that have been recovered.

Sanwo-Olu said 49 families had filled the missing persons’ register as at Saturday morning. He said the register had helped the State Government to reconcile the details of victims rescued alive and also medically account for bodies recovered.”

The Governor said identification of bodies by relatives had commenced, adding that DNA examination was being undertaken on some of the bodies that are difficult to be identified by their families.

“There is a sum of money that has been reserved by the State Government for succour and to give befitting burial for those who died in the incident. “Families that so wish to accept it are being supported for the burial arrangement.

“Also, survivors in hospitals have been given the financial support to help them settle and cope with challenges of feeding in the aftermath of the incident.

The emergency management officials, he said, had started the process of clearing the rubble to create more space in a tight compound.

He said the work at the collapsed building site had reached a stage where using earth-moving equipment was becoming very difficult.

Earlier on Friday, the state government asked families of the deceased to go to the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) Yaba to identify the corpses of the victims.

Information and Strategy Commissioner Gbenga Omotoso said work was still ongoing and would continue until the government could account for everybody inside the building at the time of collapse and certify that nobody is left behind in the collapsed building.

He said: “For bodies that may be very difficult to identify, we are going to be conducting DNA tests for such bodies to be identified. There are rules for giving bodies to people.

“There are some of the bodies that are in a state that it would be unprofessional for the hospitals to allow people to look at them in that present state and for them to be released the way they are. That is why we have the little delay that we are having. But if you go to IDH, Yaba from 4 pm, you should be able to see some of the bodies and be able to identify who you want to identify.”

The multi-sectoral search and rescue operation is being led by teams of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), with the support of construction giants, Julius Berger, Craneburg, HiTech, and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).

BIG STORY

FCT People Will Show Wike During LG Council Poll — Senator Kingibe [VIDEO]

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The Senator stated that the FCT minister does not understand the people’s needs and is failing to address them.

The Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory, Ireti Kingibe, says residents of the capital will take action against FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, in the upcoming local government election in Abuja.

Kingibe, while appearing on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm, said Wike is out of touch with the people’s needs and has not been meeting them.

“The truth is that the people of the FCT resent Wike,” she said. “They are not happy with his attitude and his failure to meet their needs.”

She noted that the forthcoming local council elections would serve as a test of the minister’s performance.

“The people will show him who owns the FCT during the council polls,” she added.

Watch VIDEO HERE

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Atiku May Not Have Been Destined To Become Nigeria’s President — Daniel Bwala

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Daniel Bwala, a presidential aide, has said that his former principal and ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar may not have been destined to become Nigeria’s President.

“There is my former principal who believes that he is going to win,” Bwala said during Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, dismissing the chances of Atiku and other opposition coalition leaders like Peter Obi and Rotimi Amaechi to defeat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

“In all honesty, I have expressed my opinion that it may never have been destined by God for him to be a president in Nigeria because he has done everything he needs to do to be president and he did not win the presidency.

“2023 was the biggest opportunity that my former principal Atiku Abubakar had. He will never have that kind of privilege again,” he said.

Interestingly, Bwala served as Atiku’s campaign spokesperson during the 2023 election but later switched his allegiance to Tinubu.

Opposition has no alternative policies

Opposition leaders recently agreed to use the African Democratic Party as the platform for their coalition to remove Tinubu, whom they accused of leading the country backward.

However, Bwala dismissed their efforts, saying they have failed to provide alternative policies that could convince Nigerians to support them.

“What I still find intriguing is that this coalition of internally displaced politicians have not been able to summon the courage and come up with alternative facts, alternative policies or alternative programmes.

“Throughout the interview you had with Peter Obi, what I find is that he has not been able to counter or to disagree in the real sense of the word with the policies that we are implementing,” he said.

Coalition will scatter in six months

Bwala further downplayed the threat posed by the opposition coalition to Tinubu’s presidency, predicting that the coalition would not last beyond six months.

He stated that internal disputes over who would emerge as the presidential candidate under the ADC would break up the coalition, ultimately benefiting Tinubu in 2027.

“All this fantasy of coalition, we all know that once there is a phenomenon like that we are going to have a good two to three weeks of all these romanticizing of ‘we have ideas, we can do this’.

“But one of them, his name is Datti (Baba-Ahmed) already sensed the danger that is ahead for them and he said that the problem of theis coalition will be who will be the president because right now, I’m quoting him, ‘everybody wants to be the president’.

“After one month when they sit down, I am telling you on my own honour, in the next six months, that coalition thing will not even be a conversation, they will scatter,” Bwala added.

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Inside Lagos: Man Burnt With Hot Oil For Stealing In Mushin Market

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An unidentified man is in critical condition after a mob attacked him with hot oil for allegedly stealing groundnut oil at a market near the Alakara Police Station in the Mushin area of Lagos State.

Report has it that the incident occurred on Friday.

According to The Punch, a resident under anonymity on Monday said that the man pretended to be a customer, took the item from a stall, and was caught in the act.

Angered by the theft, the mob reportedly heated some of the groundnut oil he was accused of stealing and poured it on his back.

“He pretended to be a customer, and while the owner of the shop was busy attending to others, he lifted a bottle of groundnut oil and left. He did not know he was sighted by another trader. That was how he was approached and caught with the product. He was stripped naked and beaten by the mob, who then decided to heat the groundnut oil and poured it on his back while he was lying down,” the source said.

The suspect was said to have been left unconscious with severe burns and abandoned near the market.

A resident, Omoluabi Ifeoluwa, who raised the alarm about the suspect’s condition, revealed that the man was found on Sunday lying in a gutter close to the police without receiving medical assistance.

Ifeoluwa, who shared the information on the community WhatsApp group, stated that he received a distress call and contacted health officials and the police.

He wrote, “On receiving a distress call, I was informed that a seemingly lifeless body had been lying in a gutter near Alakara Police Station along Agege Motor Road for over two days without attention. Upon verification of this disturbing report, I promptly contacted the following officials for immediate action: Medical Officer of Health, Mushin Local Government. Supervisor for Health, Mushin Local Government and Divisional Police Officer, Alakara Police Station

Following this, I arranged for an ambulance through the Lagos State Emergency Services, and we proceeded swiftly to the location. On arrival, we found a man in an extremely critical and unhygienic condition.” According to eyewitnesses, he was allegedly caught attempting to steal groundnut oil. As punishment, the oil was reportedly poured on him, and he was left in that state.”

Ifeoluwa explained that after cleaning him up, the general hospital where he was taken refused to admit him.

“We were advised to transfer him to Gbagada General Hospital for further care. Unfortunately, due to a lack of further support, medical acceptance, or guidance, I was unable to continue with the process. With no clear path forward and without institutional assistance, I was left with no choice but to let him go,” he added.

When reached for comments, the Divisional Police Officer, Enyinna Nwankudu, stated that the officers had made efforts to retrieve the man from where he was found.

He said, “When we saw him, we contacted the local government officials and health workers who came to remove him from inside the drainage. He was initially thought to be dead, but he was not. He has been taken care of.”

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