By Our Correspondent

To put an end to incessant building collapses in the country, FCT Minister,Barr Nyesom Wike has set up an investigative Panel to probe the deadly building collapse in Abuja that killed four people and injured others.

The Minister who launched a full investigation, ordered the site shut down, and directed police to detain the developer and site engineers.

The incident has rattled the Federal capital. Early findings point to a catastrophic foundation failure triggered by a buried, badly backfilled local well that went undetected before construction began.

Wike visited the site Monday and looked shaken as he offered condolences. He called the loss “very pathetic” and confirmed that one site engineer is already in custody, with the developer slated for arrest next.

“From the report I got, we lost four persons. Nobody is happy when you lose somebody. The government is taking over this site. The Department of Development Control has sealed off the premises, and we are setting up an expert panel to really look at what happened,” he said.

The Minister issued a blunt warning to builders who skip regulatory checks. He stressed that building codes exist to protect lives, not to block urban growth, and questioned both material quality and the foundation decisions made during construction.

“When you are constructing buildings of this nature, the lives of the people are very, very important. We must know the quality of materials. What does the soil test allow? Can it support two or three floors? Will it allow for piling or a raft foundation? All these are key,” Wike emphasized.

He also hit back at media outlets and critics who accuse officials of harassment when enforcement happens.

“Sometimes when we come to a site like this, the press has not been kind to us. Instead of finding out why the government is taking action, some people resort to blackmailing government officials to look for money. But look at these lives.

How can you buy back these lives? They are gone. It is the responsibility of government to protect life and property.”

Also speaking, Bashir Madaki Sanusi, Director of the Department of Development Control, explained that an independent integrity test by consultant Mr. Emeko uncovered serious underground problems hidden from the builders.

The soil consisted of old dredged waterway deposits built up over years. Directly under the construction footprint was a historic local well filled with loose debris and clay. The building team didn’t know it was there.

“Columns C and D were placed right above this hidden pit. The well was 2 meters deep, but the columns extended only 1.5 meters. That shortfall created the structural gap that caused the collapse”.

Sanusi defended his department’s process, noting that standard soil tests and approvals showed no red flags beforehand, and inspectors supervised every stage from foundation to the final floor.

He said surface-level tests can’t detect a backfilled well packed with debris and clay underground.

The Department of Development Control will wrap up its preliminary review. An independent panel will then examine the structural designs, verify soil test records, and review supervision logs to assign responsibility for the fatal collapse.

By Our Correspondent

The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted bail to former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai in the sum of N100 million following his arraignment on charges bordering on alleged breach of national security.

Judicial logo for High Court

The court ruled that El-Rufai must provide one surety who must reside in either Maitama or Asokoro in Abuja and own a landed property within the Federal Capital Territory.

The surety is required to deposit the original Certificate of Occupancy of the property with the court registry.

Justice Abdulmalik further directed that the surety must be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 17 and must provide evidence of salary payments for at least three months.

The salary records must also be authenticated by a bank manager within the court’s jurisdiction.

In addition, the surety was ordered to depose to an affidavit of means, execute a bail bond and submit a recent passport photograph to the court registry.

The court also ordered El-Rufai to submit all valid international passports and directed that he must report to the DSS headquarters every last Friday of the month by 10 a.m. to sign an attendance register pending the determination of the case.

Justice Abdulmalik warned that any breach of the bail terms would lead to an automatic revocation of the bail.

The judge further ordered the former governor to submit a letter of attestation from the Chairman of the Kaduna Traditional Council, alongside a verification letter from the surety’s department and a tax clearance certificate covering the last six months.

The ruling followed the arraignment of El-Rufai by the DSS on an amended five-count charge bordering on alleged breach of national security.

The DSS had earlier arraigned the former governor before the same court on April 23, where he pleaded not guilty to the initial charges.

At Monday’s proceedings, counsel to the DSS, Oluwole Aladedoye, informed the court that the prosecution had filed a further amended five-count charge and sought leave to substitute the earlier three-count charge.

One of the amended charges accused El-Rufai of unlawfully intercepting the communications of Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser.

According to the prosecution, the alleged offence stemmed from statements allegedly made by the former governor during an appearance on an Arise Television programme on February 13, 2026.

The prosecution argued that the alleged act contravened Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.

Following the amendment, the court struck out the earlier three-count charge and read the amended charges to El-Rufai, who again pleaded not guilty to all counts.

During the proceedings, the defence drew the attention of the court to a pending bail application filed on February 17, noting that a further affidavit initially declared missing from the court file was later found during proceedings.

The DSS, however, told the court that it was not opposing the bail application.

The defence team also filed an application seeking to quash the amended charges, arguing that the allegations lacked merit, while the prosecution urged the court to dismiss the application.

After listening to arguments from both parties, Abdulmalik adjourned the matter for further hearing while granting El-Rufai bail under the stringent conditions.

Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele on Sunday condemned in absolute terms the abduction of 87 students and teachers in Borno and Oyo States within 24 hours despite $30 million globally raised in 2014 to secure public and private schools across Nigeria.
 
Bamidele, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, added that the recent abduction accentuated the need to expedite the establishment of state police currently under consideration at the National Assembly.
 
He made the remarks in a statement by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs on Sunday; calling for concerted and strategic measures to make schools safe nationwide and tame the rising number of out-of-school children crisis.
 
Suspected gunmen had abducted 45 students and teachers from Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota, Community Grammar School and L.A Primary School in Esiele, in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on Friday.
 
Similarly, within the same period, Boko Haram terrorists attacked Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira/Uba Local Government Area, Borno State, an invasion that culminated in the abduction of 42 students.
 
In his statements on Sunday, Bamidele condemned the abduction, describing it as an attack on the future of Nigeria, thereby promising to speed up the creation of state police in order to complement the country’s current national security architecture.
 
According to him, the 10th National Assembly is currently at the phase of concluding the process of amending the 1999 Constitution to pave the way for the establishment of state police. Indeed, the process will soon be completed at the National Assembly.
 
Bamidele, however, explained that after the National Assembly had concluded its part, the proposal would be transmitted “to the State Houses of Assembly for consideration and scrutiny, which would require a two-thirds approval before the state police could come on stream.”
 
He, specifically, appealed to the sub-national governments and legislatures to see the state police proposal as an issue of strategic national importance that should not be subjected to partisan politics or ethno-religious consideration.
 
Before the state police became effective, the leader of the senate challenged both federal and state governments to embrace and implement the safe school initiative as a stop-gap measure to address the number of out-of-school children, currently standing at 18.3 million across the federation.
 
He said the incessant abduction of students and teachers “is a tragic national concern that negates our national development indices. We cannot and must not allow it to continue. At the National Assembly, we will rise against this trend and put an end to it through the instrumentality of legislation.
 
“As soon as the National Assembly resumes plenaries on June 2, we will perfect all outstanding legislative initiatives that have been introduced to decisively address security challenges in the federation.
 
“One of such initiatives is the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution that seeks to establish state police, which is now at an advanced stage. Another is the amendment of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 aimed at strengthening the system of consequence in the country’s justice sector and discouraging heinous crimes nationwide.”

Directorate of Media and Public Affairs,
Office of the Leader of the Senate,
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
17th May 2026.