The corpses of the Managing Director, Fourscore Heights Limited, Mr Femi Osibona, and his friend, a United States of America-based Nigerian businessman, Wale Bob-Oseni, have been recovered from the 21-storey building that collapsed on Gerrard Road in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
According to reports, their bodies were found on Thursday by responders during the recovery operation at the scene of the incident.
Bob-Oseni, a real-estate dealer, was on his way back to the US on Monday when he got a call from Osibona to check out the project.
Both friends were subsequently trapped when the building collapsed.
Recall that the 21-storey building crumbled on Monday around 2pm when Osibona, who owned the project, his clients and workers were on the site.
While the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, around 1pm said 32 bodies have been recovered, sources at the scene said that no fewer than 40 corpses had so far been recovered from the site.
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims are lamenting the postponement of the identification of corpses recovered by emergency workers.
They recalled that Sanwo-Olu said autopsies were being conducted on the corpses but families would be able to identify their loved ones from Thursday.
The bereaved families said when they visited the Mainland Hospital mortuary, Yaba, on Thursday, they were denied access to the bodies.
The father of an 18-year-old boy, Edward Godwin, while in tears, said he was not allowed to identify his son’s body despite the governor’s assurance.
He said, “I honestly needed to see my son yesterday (Wednesday). I’ve been to the general hospital to check those injured, but my son was not there. I thought I would be able to see him today, but I’ve not been able to see my son.”
A woman, who did not identify herself, said she had been to the state morgue as well but was not allowed to identify her sister’s son.
She said, “The governor said yesterday (Wednesday) that we would be able to see the corpses recovered today (Thursday) and check if our loved ones were there. But when I went there today, I was not allowed to see anything despite telling them that the governor said we would be able to check today.
“I want to know if the boy is still alive or dead. I have not told my sister about what happened because she’s not staying in Lagos and I want to know if he’s dead or not before telling her. The government should just allow us to see if our people are there or not.”
