My Soldier-Brother Lost Wife, 4 Children To Kwara Building Collapse — Survivor

A survivor of the two-storey building that collapsed in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Tuesday, Alhaji Kudus Olanrewaju, has recounted how his younger brother, a Nigerian Army staff sergeant, lost his wife and four children in the disaster.

Kudus, who was surrounded by sympathisers when our reporter visited his family house in Jekidiro, Popo Giwa, Ilorin, on Wednesday, said the building collapse claimed the lives of five members of his family, while three others were rescued alive and are receiving treatment in hospital.

He said his younger brother, Bolakale Kudus, had just returned home on medical leave from his station in Akure, Ondo State, when the tragedy occurred.

“My junior brother, a sergeant in the Nigerian Army, had just come home on medical leave from his station in Akure when the unfortunate incident happened. He lost his wife and four children to the incident.

“The incident only affected my brother’s apartment. Seventeen of us were living in the building.

“As I speak with you, we have not been able to inform my brother’s in-laws, who are indigenes of Abeokuta in Ogun State, of the death of their daughter and her four children,” he said.

Kudus said the building collapsed shortly after 5am, moments after the first call to prayer had been made from a nearby mosque.

According to him, his younger brother was in the bathroom performing ablution in preparation for the morning prayer when the building suddenly caved in.

“I was inside the building. It was the early hours of Tuesday, precisely some minutes after 5am. The first call to prayer had been made by the Ladan.

“I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.

“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everywhere. I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened.

“At the end of the day, I discovered that it was the Boys’ Quarters attached to the main building that had collapsed. My younger brother, who is a staff sergeant in the Nigerian Army, and eight members of his family were trapped in the building.

“I noticed that he was also awake and about performing his ablution. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” he recounted.

Kudus said five members of the family who were evacuated from the rubble and rushed to hospital later died.

He said the deceased had since been buried at the Oko-Olowo Muslim Cemetery.

“I have lost my children. I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a staff sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them. The remaining three are responding to treatment in the hospital,” he said.

He appealed to the Kwara State Government to assist the survivors receiving treatment in hospital, saying the tragedy had left the family facing both the pain of losing their loved ones and the challenge of finding accommodation.

“The building is gone,” he lamented.

He added that the building had stood for more than 70 years and had provided shelter for the family before Tuesday’s tragedy.

LEADERSHIP reports that combined teams of the Kwara State Fire Service, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the police carried out rescue operations at the scene of the incident on Tuesday.

The spokesperson for the Kwara State Fire Service, Hakeem Adekunle, had confirmed the death of four victims, while four others were rescued alive.

The state Commissioner of Police, Adekimi Ojo, also said the remaining occupants of the building had been evacuated.

However, Kudus told our reporter on Wednesday that five victims had actually died from the incident.

His account was corroborated by Prof. Abubakir Imam Ali-Agan, who conducted the burial prayers for the victims.

Ali-Agan, a preacher and lecturer in the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Ilorin, confirmed that he performed the burial prayers for five victims of the building collapse.