Governor suspends heritage festival to honour victims
Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel, yesterday postponed Ibom Heritage festival (ibomfest) earlier organised to showcase the rich cultural heritage of Akwa Ibom State.
A statement yesterday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Ekerete Udoh, announced the postponement of the event.
The statement reads: “This is to inform the general public that the Ibomheritage festival (ibomfest) earlier organised to showcase the rich cultural heritage of Akwa Ibom State has been postponed.
“This is to honour the casualties arising from the tragic building collapse of The Reigners Bible Church International which has thrown the state into mourning.
“A new date for the festival will be made public. Let’s continue to pray for the casualties in the accident.”
Even as the exact number of the dead in the Uyo building collapse remains unknown, the blame game has begun.
Reigners’ Bible Church International building collapsed on Saturday in the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The roof supplier, Mr. Idorenyin White and the Site Supervisor, Mr. Anieti Augustine, are trading blames and accusing each other of being the architect of the calamity.
The consecration service of Apostle Akan Weeks as bishop was on when his church building suddenly collapsed on the worshippers, including Governor Udom Emmanuel.
On Monday, the police raised the death toll to 29. Emmanuel said 23 people died.
White, who handled the iron roofing, exonerated himself from blame, saying all the pieces of advice he gave when he noticed some abnormalities in the building were ignored by the site engineer and supervisor, Mr. Augustine.
White is the Managing Director of White Steel Integrated Services.
He said a day before the consecration of Apostle Weeks as bishop, he told the construction committee members from the church that the scaffold that was inside the church should not be removed, “but nobody listened because the church has senior engineers”.
White blamed it all on civil work and not the roofing that he supplied.
He added that the roof was heavier than the construction, which was 50 per cent done.
His said: “On Friday, the building had an issue. I called the site manager and showed him that this building has a problem and he saw it with me and he said that after the programme on Saturday that the building will be reinforced.
“Apart that the building was under construction, they brought experienced engineers to look at it. I told the construction committee members from the church that the scaffold that was inside the church should not be removed, but there was a lot of quarrel between me and the church because of the scaffold.
“Even another engineer said that the scaffold should not be removed, until everything is completed because the construction was still ongoing. So, the roof was heavier than the construction, which was 50 per cent done.
“Honestly speaking, I really advised that the scaffold should not be removed but nobody listened because they have senior engineers in the church.
“They brought one Engineer Inyang and the man even advised that the scaffold should remain until the pole line and metals are tight, but nobody listened.
“The steel that was used to construct the building was okay. One engineer came and designed the steel and they were working on that. Moreover, that building was not filled, it is during this programme period that they filled the building. The whole thing was compacted. Even the side beam was not fully cast and the side beam in the middle was small.
“The fault is not from us; the fault is from the civil work.”
Augustine, who also doubled as the supervisor said the problem was not the structure but the roof, adding that he did not in any way direct that the scaffold be pulled out of the suspending roof.
He said: “It is not the wall that has defect. Even as the roof fell, that wall was still there. It is the roof that caused the problem. I was not the one that approved the roof. The engineer, Uwem Okoko, brought a team of engineers to come and look at the whole work, then designed the roof that will suit the building.
“I don’t know whether the roof constructed was designed according to specification because I was not the one that approved it.”
THE NATION
Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel, yesterday postponed Ibom Heritage festival (ibomfest) earlier organised to showcase the rich cultural heritage of Akwa Ibom State.
A statement yesterday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Ekerete Udoh, announced the postponement of the event.
The statement reads: “This is to inform the general public that the Ibomheritage festival (ibomfest) earlier organised to showcase the rich cultural heritage of Akwa Ibom State has been postponed.
“This is to honour the casualties arising from the tragic building collapse of The Reigners Bible Church International which has thrown the state into mourning.
“A new date for the festival will be made public. Let’s continue to pray for the casualties in the accident.”
Even as the exact number of the dead in the Uyo building collapse remains unknown, the blame game has begun.
Reigners’ Bible Church International building collapsed on Saturday in the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The roof supplier, Mr. Idorenyin White and the Site Supervisor, Mr. Anieti Augustine, are trading blames and accusing each other of being the architect of the calamity.
The consecration service of Apostle Akan Weeks as bishop was on when his church building suddenly collapsed on the worshippers, including Governor Udom Emmanuel.
On Monday, the police raised the death toll to 29. Emmanuel said 23 people died.
White, who handled the iron roofing, exonerated himself from blame, saying all the pieces of advice he gave when he noticed some abnormalities in the building were ignored by the site engineer and supervisor, Mr. Augustine.
White is the Managing Director of White Steel Integrated Services.
He said a day before the consecration of Apostle Weeks as bishop, he told the construction committee members from the church that the scaffold that was inside the church should not be removed, “but nobody listened because the church has senior engineers”.
White blamed it all on civil work and not the roofing that he supplied.
He added that the roof was heavier than the construction, which was 50 per cent done.
His said: “On Friday, the building had an issue. I called the site manager and showed him that this building has a problem and he saw it with me and he said that after the programme on Saturday that the building will be reinforced.
“Apart that the building was under construction, they brought experienced engineers to look at it. I told the construction committee members from the church that the scaffold that was inside the church should not be removed, but there was a lot of quarrel between me and the church because of the scaffold.
“Even another engineer said that the scaffold should not be removed, until everything is completed because the construction was still ongoing. So, the roof was heavier than the construction, which was 50 per cent done.
“Honestly speaking, I really advised that the scaffold should not be removed but nobody listened because they have senior engineers in the church.
“They brought one Engineer Inyang and the man even advised that the scaffold should remain until the pole line and metals are tight, but nobody listened.
“The steel that was used to construct the building was okay. One engineer came and designed the steel and they were working on that. Moreover, that building was not filled, it is during this programme period that they filled the building. The whole thing was compacted. Even the side beam was not fully cast and the side beam in the middle was small.
“The fault is not from us; the fault is from the civil work.”
Augustine, who also doubled as the supervisor said the problem was not the structure but the roof, adding that he did not in any way direct that the scaffold be pulled out of the suspending roof.
He said: “It is not the wall that has defect. Even as the roof fell, that wall was still there. It is the roof that caused the problem. I was not the one that approved the roof. The engineer, Uwem Okoko, brought a team of engineers to come and look at the whole work, then designed the roof that will suit the building.
“I don’t know whether the roof constructed was designed according to specification because I was not the one that approved it.”
THE NATION
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