Collapsed building: Bereaved widow to be told of daughters’ death monday

Adebisi Coker and the dead daughters

Sixty-eight-year-old Adebisi Coker, who lost her only two children, Bukky and Toyin, in the building that collapsed at Jakande Low Cost Housing Estate, Isolo, Lagos, on Wednesday, has been moved to Lagoon Hospital, Apapa, Lagos.She was taken to the hospital on Friday by a relation and Peter Adegoke, whose family took Coker in after her rescue from the debris of the building. Adegoke told our correspondent on Friday that Coker had yet to be told of her daughters’ deaths.
“We have to get her prepared. We decided to place her under medical care in order to make her fit enough to hear the sad news,” he said.
Coker sustained bruises on her back and leg when the part of the bungalow she was living at the estate collapsed, killing her two children.
Peter said, “She asked of her children today, but we told her they were still receiving treatment. But she insisted I should help to check on them at the hospital.
“We are really concerned about her health. We don’t want her to break down when she eventually receives the news.”
Coker is likely to be told of her children’s death on Monday, our correspondent learnt.
“We would watch her condition till Monday. If we think she is fit enough, we would break the news to her that day,” Adegoke said.
On Thursday, when our correspondent spoke to Coker, she said she could not recollect the moment of the collapse.
According to her, she only woke up in the Oja Health Centre, where she was taken to after her rescue from the debris.
A receptionist at the hospital confirmed that Coker was admitted on Friday evening.
The receptionist, who declined to give her name, said it was against the hospital’s policy for visitors to see patients after 7 pm.
She said, “Mrs. Coker was brought in this evening (Friday) by two of her relatives. She is on the second floor.
“You cannot see the admitting doctor because he is not around now. The other doctors are busy doing ward round.”
Our correspondent contacted the relative, identified simply as Muyiwa, who followed Coker to the hospital, but his number was switched off.