Mrs. Adeola Oseni, the widow of Wale Bob-Oseni, one of the victims of the Ikoyi building collapse, has revealed why the US returnee was in the skyscraper on that day.
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported that a 21-storey building under construction in Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, collapsed on Monday November 1st, with many people feared trapped in the collapse building.
Bob-Oseni, a real estate dealer and Executive Director of African Bureau for Legislative Empowerment, was said to be on his way to the airport returning to the United States on Monday, when he got a call from his friend and associate, Femi Osibona, owner of Fourscore Homes, to check out his ongoing building.
Sadly, the building collapsed with both men and over 50 others inside, killing them and many others.
In a statement released by Oseni’s family, including his sibling, Abass Oseni, they described the deceased as a “hardworking young and upwardly mobile Nigerian” and also refuted claims that he was one of the contractors in the skyscraper.
The family said, “On Thursday, November 4, 2021, our hope that our husband, brother, son, nephew, friend and the core of many networks of hardworking young and upwardly mobile Nigerians, Wale Bob Oseni, would be one of the survivors of the ill-fated crash was dashed.
“Since we identified his body, we have been struggling with the nightmarish reality of our irreparable loss, the chasm of his absence, and the multi-dimensional proportions of this transition from being to nothingness.
“It is not true that Wale Bob Oseni was a director or contractor in the Fourscore Properties construction transaction.
“The owner, Femi Osibona and Wale, were both alumni of Mayflower School, Ikenne where both of them bonded.
“It was this camaraderie that made Osibona invite him to see the dream project he was building.”