‘My teenage son came from Abuja to work… he’s trapped in collapsed building’

Emmanuel Abel, a 16-year-old boy who travelled with his boss from Abuja to work in Lagos, is one of the victims of the Ikoyi building collapse.

On Thursday, Abel Godwin, Emmanuel’s father, was at the location of the collapsed building to ask for the whereabouts of his son.

The 21-storey building caved in around 2pm on Monday, with many still believed to be trapped in the rubble.

There is currently no official figure of the number of persons who were in the building before the incident happened.

Speaking with journalists, the father of the victim who was in tears, said he drove his son to the contractor’s workshop in Abuja on September 26 for the trip to Lagos.

Abel said only one of the five persons who left Abuja has been found alive as the person was not in the building when it collapsed.

“His colleagues in Abuja couldn’t give me details. That is why I came to Lagos. I came to see things for myself,” Abel said.

“I have seen the picture of his boss — dead. Five of them came from Abuja to Lagos. Only one person survived. The person who survived came out of the building to charge his phone and rest because he took drugs. The moment he came out, he saw the building going down.

“I came yesterday around 2am. It is painful and I’m devastated. I have pleaded with the state government. The governor came yesterday and addressed us that they should allow me to see the dead bodies they have recovered.

“I’m hoping on God to see him either alive or dead. That is what I want. I’m not finding justice but I want to see my son alive or dead.

“My son — my first son — he will be 17 on December 31. He finished secondary school at 15. He did not get admission. He got the cut-off mark but he did not get admission because of the situation we are in Nigeria.

“It is not hunger that brought my son here. It is because I wanted the best for him. I wanted him to get something doing because I know the country we are in.

“I want to see my son so that I can return to Abuja and tell my wife that my son, who she gave birth to with only one wrapper when I was ‘doing’ okada in 2004 to survive, is dead.”

As of Thursday, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said 38 bodies have been retrieved.