THE Lagos Coroner set up to unravel the circumstances leading to the recent collapse of a 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos heard yesterday that the late Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Ltd, Femi Osibona, was served a contravention notice and stop work order before the collapse of the structure.
An Assistant Director in charge of the Inspectorate of Quality Control of LASBCA, Mrs Oluseun Randle, made the revelation while she was being cross-examined by Mr Ola Adeosun, the counsel to Prowess Engineering Nigeria Limited.
Prowess Engineering Nigeria Limited was thẹ structural engineering consultant to Osibona, which withdrew its services over a dispute on how the project was structurally executed.
Mrs Randle, the officer overseeing Eti-Osa, Victoria Island, Surulere, Yaba, Lagos Mainland and Ikoyi where the 21-storey building collapsed said the late Osibona also prevented the officers of the engineering company from accessing the site when construction was ongoing.
The witness told thẹ Coroner, Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, that LASBCA had visited the site of the building collapse to check the level of compliance on three occasions.
According to her, an officer first visited on February 13, 2019, adding that he peered through a small opening in the gate and observed piling equipment.
“He moved closer to observe the piling operation and to gain access to the premises. The security operatives manning the premises did not allow him entry. He was only asked to wait outside of the gate for the developer (Osibona).
“After some minutes, the developer came and the officer told him he wanted to serve a notice.
“He (Osibona) told him that he could not go in, and if he tried to forcefully gain entry, he would tell the security to release the dogs.
“The monitoring officer served a Contravention Notice and Stop Work Order dated February 13, 2019 on the structure. The notice and order was to be complied with within 48 hours,” she said.
The witness said that the LASBCA officer returned to the site for the second time on February 21, 2019 and pasted a Seal Up Notice on the fence and left.
On the second visit, she said that the monitoring officer did not observe any construction work on the site except for the locked gate.
Randle said that sometime in June 2019, LASBCA received a notification from a sister agency, the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA) over a permit given to Fourscore Heights Ltd.
“The approval drawing was for three blocks of 15-floors. With that (the permit) LASBCA had a reprieve over the matter,” she said.
The LASBCA Assistant Director noted that for the rest of 2019, officers of the agency did not observe any construction work at the site except the locked gate.
Adeosun asked: “As at February 2020, two 15-storey structures were already standing on the site before the COVID-19 lockdown. The construction of the third building, which was the one that collapsed, was already at the third floor stage. Would you be surprised?”
Responding, Randle said: “I will be surprised.”
She said that she did not know if it is possible for an individual to forge a LASBCA approval document.
She also could not recall if a developer had ever forged LASBCA documents.
While being cross-examined by Mr Ahmed Gbadamosi, a counsel to the family of Mr Samuel Iwelu, one of the victims of the building collapse, the witness revealed that Osibona was arrested on June 10, 2020.
She said he was arrested alongside his wife and staff for contravening certification and planning laws.
“They were arrested by a joint enforcement team of LASCA and LASPPPA. The security men at the gate put up an attitude by resisting the team’s access to the property.
“He was found to be in contravention of the law,” she said.
On the events that transpired after Osibona’s arrest, Randle told Gbadamosi to make his enquiry via correspondence to the General Manager of LABSCA.
Gbadamosi noted that in Paragraph 27 of Randle’s Statement on Oath to the Coroner’s Court she said Osibona had continued construction on the property until it collapsed on November 1, 2021.
He asked: “Why was the developer who was arrested by the taskforce, taken to an unknown location by the police only to go back to continue developing the property?” he asked.
Responding, Mrs Randle said no developer is beyond LASBCA, adding that the agency was not aware that he went back to the site.
“It was the report of the collapse of the 21-storey building that gave us an insight on the height and type of the structure at the time of the collapse,” Randle said.
In response to questions from Yusuf Lawan, the counsel to the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mrs Randle said LABSCA was unaware that Osibona had returned to the construction site after his arrest.
“The monitoring officers were not going to the site because of the COVID-19 lockdown, then #EndSARS occured.
“All our monitoring officers fell under the category of those asked to stay at home,” she stated.
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