Sunday, 29 September 2024

Osibona: Lord, save us from tragedies caused by greed and other evils – Ella Temisan

The recent avoidable debacle involving a collapsed skyscraper in upscale and the now deceased Mr. Femi Osibona is worth my attention today.

It’s somewhat amusing how when a person dies their sins are automatically washed away and they suddenly become angels in the minds of people who can remember them.

The only person I know that the general public can agree to be a terror is General Sani Abacha. Even though his immediate family may not agree; I am yet to see one person that’d say something good about the man.

Mr. Osibona, the developer responsible for erecting a series of high-rise buildings; one of which collapsed some days ago, is an angel now. That structure, which never should have gone past the 15th floor collapsed; killing a good number of people, including him. But he is an angel.

To the people that know him, Mr. Osibona was a family man, peace-loving, god-fearing and humble. He would put people first and many other nice humane things. He was a paragon of virtues.

Yes, speak no ill of the dead. But folks, shouldn’t we learn to question matters and hold people accountable to things; regardless of which side of the realm they’re in? The way I see things, this man was privy to the information that the building was supposed to end on the 15th floor. Yet he went along with a new plan to add seven more.

 

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Osibona: Lord, save us from tragedies caused by greed and other evils - Ella Temisan

We don’t have details of the other structural discrepancies that contributed to the collapse. But I don’t want to agree that the owner was not aware of major changes that would lead to it.

Between the late Mr Osibona, some people in the government and whoever agreed to take on the building project; a river of vices flowed, people’s lives were put at risk and were ultimately lost. I saw videos of legs and boots, torsos and hard hats trapped in the rubble. I felt a deep sense of loss.

Also, I felt uneasy because I couldn’t stop wondering how many of such public structures exist. How many defaulting bridges, plazas, office complexes were given an okay because money and power changed hands? I don’t know.

When people’s lives are as good as the amount of Naira they can provide, then our problem is long. But we won’t start that topic today.

Greed is a vice older than Lagos State. As my mum would always say “they will use their head to carry it”. And that’s what I’m going to tap into. Let whoever plans to endanger other people’s lives for profit become trapped and buried in their plots.

May the souls lost in that tragedy rest in peace and may their families find consolation.

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