AT LEAST 40 people are reportedly trapped under the rubbles of a collapsed building in the Sabon Lugbe area of Abuja Saturday evening.
The ICIR reports that the incident occurred four days after the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, ordered demolition of illegal buildings in the community.
Viral videos of the collapsed building show sympathisers attempting to see if they could rescue anyone from the debris.
The incident was said to have happened before 6 pm.
The incident occurred a few months after a portion of a two-storey residential building in the Kubwa neighbourhood of Abuja collapsed.
The building, situated next to a popular hotel in Phase 2, Site 2, Sultan Dasuki Way in the satellite town, was originally a hotel before being converted into a hospital.
After the hospital owners vacated the premises, it was, again, converted into a residential apartment.
The ICIR gathered that two people were rushed it’s rubbles to a nearby hospital, while a few others managed to escape.
The ICIR reported that Wike ordered the demolition of all illegal buildings in the Sabon-Lugbe community on Tuesday, October 22.
Wike, accompanied by heads of security agencies in the FCT, paid an unannounced visit to the community, according to a statement signed by the assistant director, press, in the minister’s office, Rabi Musa Umar, and mailed to The ICIR after the visit.
The minister said buildings without proper documents from the FCT Administration should be pulled down.
Describing the building owners as land grabbers, Wike noted that the structures were built without the approval of the Development Control Department and in contravention of the land use provision of the FCT.
He further directed the director of, the Department of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima, to work with security agencies and bring the structures down.
He ordered the security institutions to arrest anyone who obstructed the demolition.
It is however not certain if the collapsed building has anything to do with the demolition order.
Some of the videos shared online from the tragedy show sympathisers blaming the minister for the collapse.
A recent report by The ICIR highlighted major lapses in the FCT since Wike’s assumption in office as minister.
A reporter with the ICIR
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