Four-storey church building collapses in Abia

A four-storey building belonging to Behold He Cometh
Pentecostal Church located at Umuagu Umuahia, Abia State,
has collapsed following an early morning downpour on
Tuesday.No life was however lost as there were no workers
or worshipers at the site when the building
collapsed.According to an eyewitness account, the building
which was at its final stage of completion before the tragedy
collapsed around 10am after heavy rainfall that lasted for
hours.An elder in the church, Mr. Awom Samuel, told
journalists that cracks were noticed on the wall of the
building few days before the tragedy, and the attention of
the contractor was drawn to the development.He wondered
why the building which had cost the church so much
resources could just collapse like empty carton when the
contractor was provided with all he needed for the
building.When our correspondent got to the site, some
sympathisers were overheard blaming the contractor for
the collapse, alleging that the building had a structural
defect, while others said the land where the building was
sited used to be a hip of sand deposit caused by flood
waters.Meanwhile, when contacted, the Umuahia Capital
Development Authority, said it had commenced
investigations into the incident.A competent source which
pleaded not to be mentioned said the use of substandard
materials were suspected to have led to the disaster, but
assured that the real cause would be established after
investigations.The source said government would not fail to
apply adequate sanctions against anyone found responsible
for the tragedy.The incident has brought about fears that
fake building materials may have infiltrated the Abia
market.Just last week, the state’s Command of the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps, paraded seven suspects
arrested in a compound at Ugwunagbo suspected to be an
illegal cement factory.According to NSCDC, over 40,000 bags
and tons of empty sacs of different brands of cement
including Dangote X3, Eagle cement, Freedom cement, and
Ibeto cement were discovered in the compound .The prime
suspect, Samuel Nwokeneme, 62, had said the business was
established early this year by his late son who died in an
auto crash along Enugu- Port Harcourt expressway three
weeks ago.The suspect who was incoherent in his speech,
denied that they were into any illegal cement production,
saying they had to continue with the late son’s business to
keep the family going.Asked why they should have in their
custody a stockpile of empty new cement sacs of various
companies when they were not their registered agents, he
said “we are using them to work.”Another suspect,
Chibuzor, 27, initially claimed that he was only in a near-by
‘joint’ when he was arrested by men of the NSCDC, denying
any involvement in the illegal business, but later admitted
that he knew that illegal business was going on there.Asked
if he had tried to alert security agents of the presence of
such illegal factory in his vicinity, he mumbled “some times.”