The Edo State Government has said that emergency responders have rescued all trapped students in the collapsed three-storey building on Ekhator Street, off Ekosodin Road beside the University of Benin, in Benin City.

In a statement by the Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, the government noted that there are no fatalities and investigation is ongoing to unravel the immediate and remote cause of the incident.

“The government confirms the collapse of a three-storey building in Ekhator Street, off Ekosodin Road, beside the University of Benin, Ugbowo, Benin City,” Osagie said.

“A rescue team was deployed to the site of the incident and all the trapped students have been rescued alive and are receiving medical attention.”

He added that, “Emergency Responders including the Edo State Fire Service and officials from the Edo State Command and Control Centre deployed to the scene of the accident have confirmed that there are no fatalities from the incident as at this time.

“Excavators and other heavy equipment are on site to clear the rubble and also remove the other parts of the distressed building.

“The government has ordered a full investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the collapse as well as an audit of other buildings in the area to ascertain their status.

“The state government has stationed officials at the site to provide updates on the incident.

“We appreciate the gallant work of the emergency responders and the good Samaritans in the community who provided assistance in managing the situation.”

Earlier, Channels Television reported that several students of the University of Benin were trapped in a three-storey building that collapsed in Ekosodin on Saturday morning.

The storey building on Ekhator Street, Benin, the state capital, collapsed during the early morning rainfall in the state.

Ekosodin shares borders with the University of Benin, and hosts a large number of student population.

Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe both struck from the penalty spot to earn Real Madrid a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad in La Liga on Saturday.

The Spanish champions moved within a point of leaders Barcelona who face last season’s surprise package Girona on Sunday.

Real Sociedad hit the woodwork on three occasions before Madrid’s second half spot-kicks earned them three points from an end-to-end clash at the Reale Arena.

“It was a tough game, probably we didn’t deserve to win because Real Sociedad played very well… but we bore it out, we suffered, we were committed in the tough moments of the game and I value that a lot,” said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.

“This sacrifice and commitment from a team with such quality, you cannot always find — and today we found it.”

The Italian was without injured midfielders Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni, and benched Rodrygo Goes for Brahim Diaz.

After Mbappe netted twice to score his first La Liga goals in his previous outing, all eyes were on the French forward.

The former Paris Saint-Germain striker forced Real Sociedad goalkeeper Alex Remiro into a smart save and had a surging run forward cut short by some last-ditch defending.

Real Sociedad hit the woodwork for the first of three occasions when new arrival Luka Sucic slammed an effort from distance against the bar.

Ancelotti brought on Rodrygo after Diaz suffered an injury and the champions came close through Antonio Rudiger’s header, clawed out by Remiro, and an Mbappe effort across the face of goal.

At the other end Real Sociedad forward Sheraldo Becker struck the bar when played in.

Sucic fired a low strike against the post early in the second half as the Basque side lacked luck in front of goal and Madrid inevitably capitalised.

Vinicius fired home from the spot in the 58th minute after Sergio Gomez handled Arda Guler’s drive and Mbappe soon followed suit.

The French superstar sent Remiro the wrong way from the spot after Jon Aramburu stood on Vinicius’ foot.

Madrid saw the remaining 15 minutes out without stress ahead of their return to Champions League action on Tuesday against Stuttgart.

Mbappe now has three goals in five La Liga matches for Madrid, although two have come from the penalty spot.

“They are linking well, creating a lot of danger,” said goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

“In open play they’re lacking goals a bit, but with them we have a lot of danger up front and we will score a lot of goals.

“Today it was from the penalty spot, but they count too.”

Los Blancos last tasted defeat in La Liga in September 2023, going 37 league matches unbeaten since.

Real Sociedad have just one win from five games this season but Imanol Alguacil’s team played well.

“We had a great first half, we had a lot of chances, the game was alive,” said Real Sociedad’s Igor Zubeldia.

“In the second half we started well but the penalty was a tough blow… we were comfortable, it changed the whole game for us.”

Earlier Sevilla earned their first victory of the season with a tight 1-0 triumph over Getafe and Villarreal moved provisionally third with a 2-1 win at Mallorca.

AFP

Barely seven day to the Edo State Governorship election, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, says it would defend the votes of its candidate with its blood against rigging by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

DAILY POST reports that the acting national chairman of the party, Ambassador Umar Damagun gave the warning on Saturday at the grand finale of the party’s campaign rally in Benin City.

Damagun warned INEC against announcing the results in the midnight, threatening that they would defend the results with their blood.

According to him, “please, I enjoin you that we don’t want that midnight results announcement. We will be vigilant, on top of the situation, and we will make sure that that doesn’t happen.

“We are issuing this and it is not a threat, but we are very very serious and we will defend our votes with our blood and everything.”.

The Acting National Chairman of the party also called on security agencies to be neutral and give all political parties a level playing field.

He noted that they would submit themselves for the security agencies to be killed and arrested if they worked in favour of any political party.

“I want to use this opportunity to tell our security agencies that you are being paid with taxpayers’ money. You have to accord the values for which you are created. Protect Nigerians, ensure justice and make sure that everyone is safe.

“A situation whereby you decide to take part in favour of any political party, let me make this very clear that you have to kill or arrest all of us if you have to take this state.

“We will be here and be with our party, and we are also ready to give our vote and blood for our right. I want to make this very clear, you may have the guns but we have God”, he stated.

While urging Nigerians to be concerned with the next week’s governorship election in the state, he opined that it would be a test for the nation’s democracy.

He noted that the party would resist INEC if it failed to conduct a credible, fair and free election, noting that any contrary would lead to anarchy.

Earlier, the Chairman, National Campaign Council, Edo 2024 Governorship Election , Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri warned against any compromise of the electoral process.

Fintiri also vowed that nobody can intimidate the party, as well as rig the election against their candidate, Barrister Asue Ighodalo.

The Governor of Adamawa State, who described Edo as the cradle of civilization and intellectualism in the country, urged the electorate to come out en masse to vote for the party’s governorship candidate.

Speaking shortly after being presented with the flag of the party, Asue Ighodalo, the governorship candidate of the party, promised to build and consolidate on the achievements of Governor Obaseki when elected.

Ighodalo added that like the governors of the party, he would fight battles to win the governorship election.

“All our governors, that is the PDP governors, fight battles to win their elections. None of them get it easy to win their elections.

“That shows that the PDP is a party of courage. That is the same battle that Osarodion Ogie and I will fight to win the election”, he added.