EXCLUSIVE: Owner of collapsed Oniru building, Yemi Lawal, relocates abroad

The owner of the seven storey building that collapsed at Oniru Estate on Victoria Island on Sunday morning, Otunba Yemi Lawal has reportedly fled abroad according to sources.

TheNewsMatrics reports that Lawal is a former banker and real estate developer and chairman of Seagle Property Company an arm of  his Eagleways Group of Companies.

Lawal, who famed to be the biggest property developers in Oniru Estate after the Oniru family,  has been reaching out to government top shots in a bid to receive a soft landing and avoid major consequences following the collapse that has claimed four lives so far according to sources.

Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development  Dr Idris Salako resigned his post on Monday following the incident.

This paper learnt from sources that Lawal left the country after the incident though this has not been independently verified.

Officials of the Lagos State government have yet to name the developer as search and rescue operations are still ongoing.

TheNewsMatrics reports that building collapses of this nature usually attract penalities including confiscation of the property and charges of criminal negligence.