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The illfated Dubai Lodge at 5 Decken Street Ifite Road Near Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka Anambra
BY RAYMOND OZOJI, Awka
Occupants of ill-fated Dubai Lodge at 5 Decken Street Ifite road near Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka have expressed profound gratitude to the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) for saving them from untimely deaths.
Some of the occupants who spoke to HEADLINE NEWS on Thursday confirmed that if ACTDA had not intervened earlier than Wednesday night 10th July, 2024, it would have been catastrophic as corpses would have littered the entire street Thursday morning of 11th July, 2024.
The displaced tenants who also appealed to the Anambra State Government to help them recover their money from the Caretaker of the failed building who is no longer taking calls from them, complained that they were stranded, frustrated and completely devastated as the grace period given to them in places they were relocated would expire shortly and they don't have money to rent another apartment judging from the terror and mayhem agents and landlords unleashed on people searching for houses in Awka.
One of the tenants, Mr. Richard Victor, a visually impaired young man who lived in Block A of the ill-fated Dubai Lodge, told HEADLINE NEWS that they noticed the building began to fail last week Sunday. He said neighbours raised alarm and on Thursday of the same week, they all started evacuating themselves to avoid being trapped in the impending catastrophe.
The visually impaired tenant further disclosed that officials of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) got intelligence on the ruptured building and responded proactively last week helping to evacuate students, families and other occupants from the building having ascertained its imminent collapse during the rescue mission.
The visually impaired young lad narrated that they began to hear an usual sound about 10:15 pm Wednesday 10th July and the next morning they found out that it was the building that collapsed.
He said prior to the eventual collapse of the building, the tenants sent their account details to Mr. Onuorah Ikebuwa William, whom he said is the Caretaker of the ill-fated Dubai Lodge, requesting for refunds but the Caretaker, according to him, refunded some people and didn't refund others, stressing that he was one of those who were not refunded.
Although he admitted that the Caretaker provided a place for him to stay in the interim but he has also been given till the end of July to vacate the place. Mr. Victor who said he lived in ROOM4 of the Block A section of Dubai Lodge, told HEADLINE NEWS that he paid N60,000 upon entry and currently he is stranded and doesn't have money to look for another apartment.
Also another occupant who identified himself as Kelvin and occupied ROOM7 of the Block B section of the failed Dubai Lodge, said ACTDA saved a lot of lives as each section of the building housed over 100 persons.
He said he parked into the building barely 2 months ago and paid N120,000 upon entry only for the misfortune to befall him and other tenants. Kelvin equally appealed to the Anambra State Government to apprehend the Caretaker and mandate him to refund all tenants their money.
A 200 level student studying German Language who lived in Block A of the collapsed Dubai Lodge, who also pleaded anonymity, said he paid N300,000 upon entry and moved into Dubai Lodge around March this year. He said they noticed that the building was collapsing when other tenants raised alarm.
He said he personally went to the back of the building only to discover that the building already had very terrible cracks on the walls and was on the verge of falling down.
According to him, when they contacted the Caretaker concerning the deplorable condition of the building, he assured them that repair works would be effected within one month but all to no avail.
He said that suspicion escalated on 4th July as it became very clear that the building was going down. Although he said that the Caretaker came and instructed them to move their belongings out from the building that remedial actions would be taken immediately but still nothing was done to save the building from falling down completely.
The 200 level student however revealed to HEADLINE NEWS that it was Friday last week that officials of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) came and helped to evacuate them, if not, all the occupants of the building would have been dead had the lodge collapsed before ACTDA intervened.
He said the Caretaker has equally threatened that he would not refund them their money because the issue was no longer within his purview but in the hands of the state government.
One of the neighbours around in the course of conducting interviews for this report, who didn't want his name in print, said they discovered from investigations that all the houses being managed by Mr. Onuorah Ikebuwa William (Dubai Lodge Caretaker) are dilapidated, condemned and nearing collapse.
The individual who didn't want his name in print recalled that one of the occupants noticed that her room was developing cracks and she raised alarm that the building was collapsing. He said another occupant raised alarm that she noticed that the bathroom tiles started falling off when she was bathing.
He said the occupants of the building contacted the Caretaker but the Caretaker didn't do anything about it. That before long, they discovered that the house has started sinking into the ground and they had no other options than to move out of the building.
According to him, ACTDA officials came and evicted everyone in the building. He said over 200 persons would have died if ACTDA hadn't responded proactively as the building has about 90 rooms and there were rooms containing families, rooms occupied by 5 persons, rooms occupied by more people and so on.
He said he appreciated the efforts of the Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo administration for evicting the tenants from the ill-fated building thereby saving the lives of hundreds of people that would have died in the building collapse.
He said the response of ACTDA officials were swift and deserved commendations because if they hadn't responded before hand, it would have been a festival of dead bodies on 5 Decken Street by Book Foundation Junction Ifite road Awka on Thursday 11th July, 2024, adding that it was a 3 storey building which collapsed intoto.
He disclosed that the first and ground floors of the building sank into the ground which meant that the occupants of the first and ground floors would have been buried alive even as he thanked God that it didn't happen because ACTDA officials came and rescued them from the disaster.
The anonymous individual however posited that the government of Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is doing tremendously well and it should continue because the rescue mission at Dubai Lodge says it all.
He also advised that victims of the ill-fated Dubai Lodge should be properly placed because he observed that there are no proper arrangements for their re-settlement at the moment. This he feels could pose dire security threats as the victims are currently displaced and homeless.
He said government has done well by evicting occupants of the collapsed Dubai Lodge but another pressing need, according to him, is for government to organize and see the possibility of helping and supporting the victims to ensure that they are pulled out of the street completely; so that if there are business people amongst them, they can focus on their businesses.
That if there are students amongst them, they can also focus on their education and academic pursuits, emphasizing that if the government can consider the suggestions mentioned, Governor Soludo's second term would be justified.
Another very vital admonition the individual gave was for government to fish out the Caretaker and the owner of the property, bring them to book and also prevail on them to refund the tenants their money as he disclosed that some occupants paid N300,000, some paid over N200,000, some paid N150,000, N100,000, N50,000, N60,000, N70,000 and so on in a particular building which he thinks is fraudulent.
A mother of three children who identified herself as Ijeoma, whose husband travelled said they were occupants in the collapsed Dubai Lodge. She said the building started cracking from the ground floor and a lady alerted the Caretaker that her room was cracking up only for the Caretaker to tell her that she was making noise.
The mother of three kids said the cracking continued until the Caretaker sent them a voice note in their group WhatsApp chat last week Wednesday that the landlord is around and he would do something about it. Thereafter the Caretaker, according to her, brought some engineers who inspected the building and assured him that nothing would happen to it.
She said the Caretaker came Thursday last week to tell them that he would look for a place where they would stay for one month while they carryout renovations on the building but all to no avail as they could not sleep the previous night due to the noise of cracking walls of the building.
She said the Caretaker has refunded some tenants their money but refused to refund others and if they call him on his mobile phone he will not pick it and even when he does, he will place the phone on speaker and drop it on top of the television set so the caller can listen to the noise from the TV without him answering the caller.
She said that the Caretaker threatened to deal with her friend after refunding her her money. That if they call him for refund, he would tell them to go and fight the government because government has taken over the case.
She said she has lived in Dubai Lodge for 4 years with her family yet she doesn't know who the landlord is. She said she is presently homeless because where she is attaching with her children will expire in the next two weeks and they will push them out into the streets.
The Ebonyi state born mother of three further disclosed that all the houses being managed by Mr. Onuorah Ikebuwa William (Dubai Lodge Caretaker) are not in good shape even as she appealed passionately to the Anambra State Government to prevail on the Caretaker to refund them their money to enable them source for better apartments to avoid being thrown out in the streets with their families.
When contacted to speak on the development, Dubai Lodge Caretaker Mr. Onuorah Ikebuwa William told HEADLINE NEWS that he was not in the position to talk about the incident. He said it is the landlord who will speak for himself.
Meanwhile the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) Hon. Osita David Onuko, told HEADLINE NEWS that he has instructed landlord of the ill-fated Dubai Lodge to refund the occupants their money as they can not be left stranded.
Although Onuko said he blamed the occupants for not evacuating when they were asked to do so but then, it was criminal for the landlord to have collected rent from them knowing fully well that his house had some structural defects.
He however advised property owners to always endeavour to carry out material tests before embarking on building projects.
He said if the structural defects of the ill-fated Dubai Lodge were discovered on time and reinforcements made, the building wouldn't have met its waterloo.
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