The residents said the area is usually flooded after a heavy rain
The occupants of buildings in Akinyemi Street, Akinwunmi Estate, in Maryland, Lagos, have distanced themselves from claims by emergency responders that they were trapped in their homes after heavy rainfall and were rescued.
The occupants, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday said flooding was a usual occurrence in the area and they have improvised ways to overcome the challenge.
"This morning, we witnessed an unusual flooding in this environment. I'm the landlord of that place, I have been living here since 2008," said Daniel Okereke, the owner of the building where emergency responders said they rescued "trapped' occupants.
"We have been experiencing this for a while, when it happens, it flows down from the canal when it is not properly dredged and it ends up receding after two to three hours. It will become dry again, then you can go wherever you want to again."
Emergency responders' claims
On Monday morning, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) put out a statement saying they received a "distressed alert" that nine residents were trapped in a sinking building due to the heavy rainfall.
Ibrahim Farinloye, the NEMA South-west coordinator, said the agency's advance team called for reinforcement of personnel.
"Speaking with the trapped victims, the lady Ms Blessing disclosed that there are up to 9 people, mostly women," he said in the statement.
"The landlord of the building had used a ladder to escape but NEMA questioned him for failure to contact emergency responders but someone from one of the trapped victim's offices contacted NEMA."
Alongside the statement, the agency shared pictures of its officers carrying some women in the flooded area.
Also, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) in its own statement said that when they got to the scene, they "discovered that nine female adults were trapped in a storey building which is sinking given the terrain of the environment and coupled with the overnight heavy rain downpour leading to flooding.
"The firefighters swiftly swung into action, rescuing all nine alive without any form of injury with the compliments of other emergency responders at the scene.
"The rescued victims are all in stable condition while search and rescue operations have been concluded with the evacuation of all at risk."
Residents speak
However, Mr Okereke denied the claim that he escaped from the building leaving his tenants to their fate.
Mr Okereke explained that he took his pregnant wife for an appointment at the hospital and by the time he came back he was surprised to see government officials at his residence.
He said the area is always flooded during heavy rains.
"The worst it can get is knee level," he said of the water level.
"Based on the construction as we were told that is going on in the Lekki Opebi link bridge link, they were having problems with dredging that area, so, they returned the water to this way."
He added that "nobody was rescued from the property. We started noticing that the rain was unusual, I decided to be preemptive ... I noticed that some of the tenants where a bit agitated especially the new ones, so I told them that if anyone wants to go down and you don't want to enter the water, you can use a ladder "
"When I got back I saw the gathering, and later realized that they were there because of the situation
"Of course, I like what is happening. Whoever made that call has been able to draw the attention of the government that we have been experiencing since 2008."
Mr Okereke said that due to the floods he has lost "at least five real quality cars."
Corroborating Mr Okereke's claim, his tenants, Tosin Ademuyiwa and Amina Muhammad, who had just gotten back from work, told this newspaper that their landlord left a ladder on the balcony for them to access the ground floor.
Miss Ademuyiwa, a tenant of three years, said the "unusual" rain led to the collapse of the fence which contributed to the floods.
"The fence fell due to the rain and the water entered our compound. Water doesn't enter our compound, ... immediately the fence fell, and the water came into our house because the house in the next compound is abandoned.
"We cannot go out, we cannot do anything. That's when a co-tenant, Blessing said she will call someone from her work to come and rescue us.
"And we didn't know that it was the agency that she was calling, we thought it was normal people. We didn't expect them (emergency), we only expected a few guys."
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Another landlord in the area, Sylvanus Diugwu, said that such scenes are not uncommon in the area due to the heavy rainfall and the canal.
"The problem we have here is the blockage of the canal. The canal is not flowing. As you see that bamboo tree, that axis is blocked," he said.
"Those people were not trapped because this is not the first time. This is what happens in Lagos when there is much flooding. And as you see it, after some time, it will go down."
The 'caller'
Speaking with this newspaper, Ms Blessing said she didn't call anyone.
She said she informed her office on WhatsApp that she wouldn't be coming to work due to the situation.
"I forwarded the picture to my group and my office reacted. Our safety management was the one who called the rescue agents," she said.
She added that they had to use the ladder because the stairs were flooded.
She also said the rescue team swam inside the compound and carried them out.
