In an interview with The Punch, 46-year-old Emmanuel Otache recounted the tragic night when his pregnant wife and three children died in a building collapse in Magodo, Lagos, and when his parents were later killed by herdsmen in Benue.
He said that the incident in Lagos occurred on October 12, 2019, in Magodo, Isheri, when a building behind his apartment collapsed into his home, killing his pregnant wife and their three children.
Otache described the moment he realised the building had collapsed as devastating, adding that he was overwhelmed with fear and despair when he could not find his wife and children.
When asked how he survived the incident, he said, “I was in a coma for seven months after undergoing multiple surgeries. When I eventually woke up, the first thing I asked about was my wife and children. That was when they told me all of them were gone.”
He explained that during one of his surgeries at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, doctors had inserted an iron rod from his waist to his knees to help him stand and move again after his legs and waist were badly damaged in the collapse.
He said the rod was supposed to be removed after two or three years, around 2021 or 2022, but he could not afford the N15 million surgery.
Before the incident, he had been selling mobile phones and accessories. He clarified that he did not own the building that collapsed; it was a rented apartment.
He added that his family was the only one affected that night, as neighbors and the landlord’s children were away, and all his wife and three children died in their sleep.
After the collapse, he returned to his village, Opaha, in Benue State, but in 2023, herdsmen attacked the community, killing 95 people, including his parents, uncles, and some siblings.
He survived because one of his uncles locked him in the kitchen and covered him with a tarpaulin while the attackers shot and burned houses from late afternoon until around 11 p.m.
He was discovered barely alive under the tarpaulin when security forces arrived around 4 a.m., then taken to the government headquarters and a private hospital, where he regained consciousness. View, More,
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