THE Lagos state governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 election, Dr Olajide Adediran, on Wednesday, called for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s resignation over what he termed the “ineptitude” of his administration to stop the spate of collapsed buildings with attendant loss of innocent lives in the state.
Adediran, who spoke through the Head of the Media and Communications Jandor4Governor Campaign Organisation, Gbenga Ogunleye, also called for the prosecution of all suspects involved in the recent seven-storey building under construction which collapsed on Oba Idowu Abiodun Oniru Road, Oniru Estate, Victoria Island area of the state last Sunday.
The media briefing, titled ‘Avoidable deaths from incessant building collapse in Lagos State: Sanwo-Olu should resign,’ was held at the Liberty Place, Campaign Headquarters, in Ikeja.
The PDP candidate noted that the problem “seemed to have lingered due to leadership rudderlessness and irresponsibility of relevant authorities,” even as he lamented that the “show of insensitivity and ineptitude on the part of the state government is very disturbing.”
He said: “It is expected that the governor himself should have resigned instead of the arranged scapegoating of asking his commissioner to quit.
He has made several unkempt promises to prevent these disasters and the attendant mourning of avoidable deaths.
“His insensitivity and display of disregard for human lives, by showing up at a social event in faraway United States of America to present an award, while the blood of the victims was still warm is condemnable. Very reprehensible.
“The Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), an advocacy group of built environment professionals, in 2019 revealed that 36,000 potential collapsed buildings were waiting to happen in Lagos. But this clueless government did nothing to arrest the issue.
“The recent case of the building collapse in Victoria Island where six people died is one case too many. The death of the victims was preventable. It is a clear case of dereliction of duty and this act is criminal.”
