Navigating through Isale Eko in Lagos Island could be tough, the clumsiness of the area and the narrow roads make movement in the area a huge discouragement for anyone driving.

In most cases, visitors to Isale Eko are always advised to park their vehicles at safe locations where they can easily drive out after their visit. When you get to Eko, the huge part of your movement within the area would be through motorcycles or tricycles.

It is not a perfect place to drive cars if you don’t want to be held in traffic gridlock for several hours hovering around a spot. The closeness of the high rise buildings erected on lands as small as half plots will make you wonder if the houses are really built for human use.

Isale-Eko sits atop the list of places in Lagos I don’t like to go, it is a rough and, could be, a perfect place to be called a slum, but because of the high rise buildings that characterise the area, it is elevated above a slum. Don’t get it twisted I wasn’t born in Lekki or Ikoyi, I was also born and bred in Oshodi, but the notoriety of Isale Eko is on another level I can’t just deal with.

So when news broke around 11 am on Wednesday that a building which housed a school on the 3rd floor had collapsed in Isale Eko, with 100 pupils trapped in the rubble, the Editor needed a live update from the scene of the incident and I had to be sent out there.

As a journalist, you have to know places, but I didn’t know how to get to Ita-faji. Using a taxi would have been the best option in this case, but not to Isale Eko, remember I said Isale Eko is not a place you go in the comfort of a car if you are really pressed for time.

As I stepped out of the office, the first thought that came to mind was to call Suleiman who was my classmate at Lagos State Polytechnic, though I have not seen him in the last seven years, but I am very good at keeping contact. I could never have made it to Ita-faji so fast without the help of Suleiman.

Suleiman has always been a resident of Lagos Island, he was born there and now he does his business there and is also raising his family at Isale Eko.

The best way to move around Isale Eko if you want to get to your destination fast and leave as early as possible, is to mount a motorcycle, fully aware of this and as instructed by Suleiman, I didn’t hesitate to mount a bike as soon as I got to Adeniji heading for Massey street in Ita-faji where the building had collapsed.

Some minutes past 2 pm, the motorcycle I mounted approached Obadina street just close to Massey street where the building had collapsed I could see palpable sobriety and wailing in the face of people around. It was obvious tragedy had struck, as the people stood in threes, fours and tens to lament the incident, their voices conveyed anger and sorrow.

As I walked closer, I had a swell time getting to the scene, the crowd of sympathisers and onlookers have flooded the street, almost making it impossible for anyone to get to the scene. This is where my small stature was helpful, I was albe to navigate, while at some spots, my ID card opened doors for me, after about five minutes, I got to the scene.

I do not need to be told that disaster had struck at 63 Massey street, it was evident. Visible to the blind and audible to the deaf.

The wailing and shout of agony made the scene a terrible one to behold.

As I made my way to the front line of the scene, there were volunteer rescuers, paramedics, police, officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and other para-military forces helping in the rescue operations.

I was informed that the men in the neighbourhood have been very helpful with the rescue work before the arrival of LASEMA. I could hear people at the scene lamenting the late arrival of LASEMA, I wouldn’t blame them, it is not easy moving around Isale Eko in a vehicle, it will be more difficult for LASEMA with its heavy-duty vehicles.

Around 2:40pm, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his team arrived the scene, the Governor didn’t stay for too long, after getting the brief from the LASEMA General Manager, Tiamiyu Adesina, he spoke with journalists and assured of government’s decision to demolish any building that fails integrity test. He left at 2:58pm. His arrival and departure didn’t stop the rescue work.

As I spoke with sympathisers and onlookers around the scene, their faces and firm voices conveyed anger and disappointment in the system and the government. They were united in their call on the government to stop building developers from constructing high rise buildings, which according to them had wreaked too much havoc.

I eventually got to the top of the collapsed building where rescue workers were making frantic efforts to save those still trapped under the rubble. It wasn’t a pleasant sight.

I left Massey street for Lagos Island General Hospital where casualties have been taken to. It was a melancholic scene at the hospital, the wailing and agonising scene could make the most hardened to weep.

Parents, family members, neighbours and friends had throng the hospital to know their fate. They wanted to see their children and friends who were casualties. Parents were first directed to the Mortuary to take a look at those deposited there before they were allowed into the emergency ward where survivors were being treated.

The wailing at the mortuary brought out tears from my eyes. I could not hold it back, when I saw Mr Ayinde (in his 50s) who lost his 5-years old son Korede, as he stepped out of the mortuary where he had gone to identify his son, he broke down in tears, the family waiting outside the gate, chorused the weeping. They couldn’t believe Korede, who went to school like every other kid that morning, will never return alive.

When I thought I have had enough at the mortuary, as I headed back to the emergency ward, the shout of “Ah Aliyah has left me!” rent the air, a young man in his 30s, Baba Aliyah, was weeping so hard and throwing himself on the floor over the death of his daughter who was also a pupil of Ohen Nursery and Primary school on the collapsed building.

As I got back to the emergency, three ambulances drove in, what I saw in the ambulances scared me, it broke my heart and gave me a traumatic sleepless night.

To be continued…