Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Tears and agony have spread through the Idumoza Community in Uromi, Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State, as a hotel building under construction caved in, killing its owner at a spot.
The incident happened last Friday while Andrew Isesere, the owner of the hotel was reportedly inside the building, carrying out some inspections at the site.
Over 20 workers who were also at the site narrowly escaped death, according to eyewitnesses. The lifeless body of the owner was recovered from the debris on Sunday morning.
Neighbours in the area expressed concern over the quality of materials used in the construction, noting that warnings had previously been issued to the deceased.
Andrew Inegbebor, a resident who spoke to reporters, said, “The owner was told he was using low quality material. He used 12mm instead of 16mm rods for the pillars. There was no base basket at the pillars. Look at the result.”
“The building collapsed because of substandard materials that were used. There was no engineer on site. The dead owner supervised the house. The house later collapsed and killed him but some workers escaped,” he added.
At the time of filing this report, the Edo State Police image maker, Moses Yamu, said that he had not been briefed on the incident.