Following the last weekend’s collapse of the multi-million naira Imo Film Academy, along Egbu Road Owerri, the state commissioner for Information, Engr. Chidi Ibe has explained that the building collapsed by accident and not as a result substandard material.
The building constructed and commissioned by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State penultimate weekend (November 14, 2014) at the premises of the Imo State College of Advanced Professional Studies, ICAPS, collapsed barely one week after it was commissioned by the governor, thereby fueling speculations that the building was one of the governor’s many substandard projects in the state.
But, speaking during his maiden press briefing, the commissioner said the building collapsed because a trailer carrying heavy equipment fell on the building, thereby pulling it down.
According to him, “there was nothing like collapsed building. It was a trailer carrying a heavy generator and while trying to drop the equipment behind the Film Academy, one of the trailer’s tyres pulled and the trailer fell on the building. The impact of the trailer’s fall led to the collapse of the building”.
Ibe expressed surprise that many journalists went about publishing the story that it collapsed as a result of its purported substandard nature without verifying from any member of the government.
He used the opportunity to call on journalists to endeavour to be more objective and sincere especially now that the nation was seriously preparing for general elections.
On Governor Okorocha’s 2015 ambition, the commissioner said the governor was not so desperate to return back as governor of Imo State but said his only ambition was to become the president of the country.
According to him, despite the fact that the governor had set his eyes on the presidency, more than 90 percent of the people of the state want him to complete his second term and do more for the people of the state.
Even if the building collapsed because a trailer hit it, that still means that the building was of substandard materials. A well-built public building meant to contain numerous people is not supposed to collapse even if a trailer hits it.
Where is the picture of the trailer that fell on the building? The picture shown on the publication is only the collapsed building, how about the trailer that fell on it that made it to be an accident according to the commissioner of information Engr. Chidi Ibe.