Father of 5 falls from five-storey building, dies in Benin

By Titus Akhigbe,Benin

A father of five yesterday died after falling from the lift of the five- storey building housing the Edo state High Court in Benin City.

The deceased, Moses Airiagbonkpa was said to have told his kinsmen at the court that he was going to ease himself after been told that the case was no longer going to hold for the day.

Narrating the sad incident, a kinsman, Johnson Obanor told the Daily Times that they are from Ugieowen Community in Oredo Local Government Area of the state and that they were having a court case that morning which was eventually, adjourned to a later date for hearing.

Obanor said having gotten that information from their lawyer, Moses (the deceased) decided to ease himself, but failed to return, compelling them to mount a search for him.

“We came here this morning, the three of us and we entered the court and sat down. We later discovered that the court is not sitting. So, before the arrival of our lawyer, when she came she went to the table to go and take a date. 

“He got up and told us he wants to urinate and we told him to return early so that we can go home after the lawyer has taken a date. After taken the date, we waited for a long period, but he did not show up. So, we assumed he has gone downstairs to wait for us where we parked our vehicle. 

“Then, I told the other man we should go to the parking lot to check if he is there, but unfortunately we did not see him. We sat down in the vehicle and tried to contact him, but he was not receiving his calls. 

“We decided to search for him within the premises and met a lawyer who asked us to join the crowd to climb the staircase.

“Sadly, we met our brother lying down on the floor and someone said he fell from upstairs. They traced the blood and found he got stuck thinking the place was a restroom,” he said.

Another distraught relative, Osasu Isoken, who was called on the phone to be briefed of the ugly situation, blamed the construction company for not putting a signpost, indicating danger on the site.

“I was at the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) when a brother of mine called me that Moses has fallen from the court.

“Then, I went upstairs to check and l found out that he got stuck in the lift. The man is a learned man and I believe he will know that the place is not in use if there was a signpost indicating danger, but there is nothing like that in there,” he said