0
0
Collapse of buildings in Lagos where lives were lost is a recurring thing—it is not new. But as far as I can recall in the recent time, no collapse caught people’s attention like that of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations and the most recent one in Ikoyi (both in Lagos). Many believe that the collapse of Synagogue has a spiritual dimension to it. (Our people will say it is not ordinary). I hope that is understood. The one of Gerrard Road in Ikoyi is majorly blamed on Cut-Cornerism. I will come back to this.
Humans are destined to be afflicted with pains, sicknesses, calamities, and other misfortunes—from time to time. We cannot run away from this fact. All we can do, because we hate calamities, is to pray against them. It is hoped that through prayers against affliction, if one is destined to be afflicted, it can be mitigated and reduced to the barest bearable minimum.
But can calamities be avoided and averted by prayers only? This is where we get it wrong. While prayer is important, taking precautions is not less important. Rather, doing things properly, obeying the law of nature, prioritizing professionalism, and embracing meritocracy in whatever we do go a long way in making prayer works like miracle.
I gathered that the late Osibona, the owner of the collapsed building, was actually into real estate business which he started in the United States according to some report. Thereafter, he spread his tentacles to London and South Africa. All were stories of success. He was said to have approached his pastor for where to go next since clerics (who are ‘next to gods’) are considered to have ‘knowledge’ of the future and the unseen. His pastor then asked him to come to Nigeria with the prospect of prosperity. The rest, as they say, is history.
It is common (this is not peculiar to Nigerians) to see those who take overdose of religious extremism and dogmatism to have audacity of success. This, especially when they have the imprimatur of their spiritual godfathers on whatever they do. In that case, steps are not retraced on the imagined trajectory to success; no matter what. For I cannot fathom the boldness that explains why an experienced real estate man would go ahead to construct such a titanic building with substandard materials despite being warned. This is clearly stated in the well circulated letter which has not been controverted—as far as I know.
No only that, the initial building approval plan was said to be a 15-storey structure. We may wish to exonerate late Osibona and argue that he is not aware of the use of substandard materials since he was neither an engineer nor was he an architect. He was also not a surveyor. This could be true. But was he not also aware that the building which initial approval plan was a 15-storey structure had been jerked—up to 21—before its collapse? This, of course, cannot happen overnight.
There are two explanations. One, audacity of success. This is premised on the false belief that whenever your pastor or malam tells you something in form of prophecy, it will definitely come to pass. If this is what Karl Marx had in mind when he said religion is the opium of the masses, then he is vindicated.
Take for instance the Yahoo Boys; many of them have the blessing of these devils called ‘religious clerics’. There is one recent viral video in which one useless, satanic, mentally deranged, bastard, and good-for-nothing so-called malam was extolling the yahoo boys and what they do. This unfortunate malam said (what can be interpreted as) the yahoo boys are calling unto Allah like any other supplicators. In his deliberately skewed understanding due to his love for nauseatingly abscessed lucre, yahoo means—to him—Yaa Huwa (يَا هُوَ). In Arabic, this can be rightly pronounced as Yaa hoo to roughly mean: O He! (i.e. O Allah!). That is, calling on Allah.
No nation can develop with these kinds of clerics and their unthinking blind followers. And I think they are in the majority. May our thinking caps not get lost. The roles of these clerics in aiding and abetting criminalities need to be probed.
It is these psychotic clerics that are support pillars behind most corrupt politicians, bad administrators, evil people, and the atrocities they committed against the rest of us. If you see people who are very confident in committing criminal acts without any fear of repercussion, rest assured that they (most likely) rely on some devilish clerics. May Allah protect us from these Senior Kings of Devils (SKD)—walking under the garb of religion.
The second explanation is cutting corners which is a manifestation of greediness. It should be noted that to cut corners is not the same thing as to cut the corner. The latter has good meaning. It is usually used to mean to take a shorter route to a destination—to take a short cut. This will be wise and right.
But the former has different meaning entirely. It has a disapprovingly negative and abhorrent connotation. Language could be funny at times—reason why it is good to master it well. To cut corners, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, means to do something in the easiest, cheapest, or quickest way, often by IGNORING RULES or leaving something out. This is what is conspicuous to most of us in the Ikoyi collapsed building saga. Until the outcome of the investigation panel proves us wrong, we shall maintain our stance.
Already, some are giving scientific explanations on the collapsed building incident. I am just imagining how scientific would the scientificness of these explanations be. The truth is: when we are being too ‘cut-corneristic’ in our dealings, we cannot expect anything but calamity. We should know that to cut corners is costlier than doing things properly. Though our greediness makes this common truth sounds bald and unbelievable to us. The Prophet (SAW) was very right when he said: “Indeed, Allah likes that when one of you does anything, he should do it properly” (Tabarani).
Now what has happened has happened. The deed has been done. Scores of people lost their souls. Families of victims are in mourning mood. Families of the late developer and his wife are at loggerheads on who gets what, when, why and how. Report of investigative panel is being awaited. But in all these, have we learnt any lesson? Ordinarily, one should say yes; and we have learnt many similar lessons in the past. But it is becoming the norm among us to learn and ignore—pretend not to have learnt.
All said, my major regret is that this write up—and those of others—will definitely not bring back the departed souls of this avoidable collapse from their graves. It will also not restore their souls back to their bodies. However, it might hopefully serve as an admonition to whoever intends to cut corners—or already in the act of cutting corners—to desist.
For those who lost their loved ones, may Allah Almighty console them and reward them for their patience. May He grant them what it takes to bear the loss. May Nigeria—under our dear President, Muhammadu Buhari—not collapse like the Ikoyi building. May we live long to witness Nigeria’s greatness; for we do not have any country but it.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
