LAWMAKER’S 3 STOREY BUILDING COLLAPSE IN EBONYI

REPORTER: AMECHI ODO

Two persons have been rescued from a collapsed three storey building under construction adjacent FETHA-1 of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki in Ebonyi State.

The collapsed building designed to be a Pharmacy Shop was said to belong to the lawmaker representing Afikpo North East State Constituency, Mr. Ukie Ezeali.

One the survivors, Mr. Celestine Arua, receiving treatment at the Emergency Ward of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, explained that the building collapsed shortly after they finished work at the site late in the evening.

He said he just heard a cracking sound and later saw himself at the hospital.

The Commissioner for Capital City and Urban Development in Ebonyi State, Mr. Sunday Inyima, who mobilized relevant agencies to the scene of the incident on a rescue mission, described the collapsed building as an illegal structure.

Mr. Inyima emphasized that the lawmaker embarked on the construction without the approval of the Ministry.

Mr. Inyima said two site managers had been arrested while the lawmaker had been asked to hand himself over to the police for flouting the building code of the state.

The Chairman, Nigeria Society of Engineers in Ebonyi State, Mr. Enyinnaya Eni, said preliminary investigations showed that the structure collapsed due to poor concrete work as the construction was not associated with any professional engineer.

The Public Relations officer of the Teaching Hospital, Mr. Uzor Oji, assured the people that the victims were receiving adequate medical attention.

Effort to get the reaction of the owner of the collapsed building, Mr. Ukie Ezeali, was fruitless as he did not pick his calls nor respond to a text message sent to his phone.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU