Contrary to the “bad belle” riposte by Visible Construction Company (a subsidiary of Laralek Ultimate Construction Company) to a report on compromised National Assembly roof that caused leakages during Friday’s downpour, a video clip has just now further confirmed the report.
THE CONCLAVE was one of the online newspapers that published the report of the leaking roof, which leakages and consequent flooding of the lobby as well as sustained leakage in the Senate Chamber were witnessed by one of our reporters.
THE CONCLAVE Board of Editors had activated necessary mechanisms on Saturday through Sunday night to prove the veracity of the initial report with a video clip.
This follow-up action was consequent upon the rejoinder by the Managing Director of Laralek Ultimate Construction Company, Olalekan Adebiyi, debunking the report of the leaking roof in a purported telephone interview with some journalists covering the National Assembly.
Instead of smartly and pointedly addressing the subject matter, offering some logical clarity, Mr Adebiyi had insinuated that the report was driven by “bad belle”
Whereas, the honcho of the local construction company agreed that there was a downpour, he claimed that the reported flooding of parts of the expansive lobby was “fake as investigation carried out by them through their subsidiary company used to execute the contract (Visible Construction), revealed that there was no leakage from the roof of the White House segment of the National Assembly.”
He reportedly claimed that “Amothene, imported from United States of America and applied to the points of leakages on the roof, is water tight and can never leak. The report, to us, is unfounded and simply put, bad belle because if it was Julius Berger that carried out the renovation work, no such fake report will be written against it.
“I wonder why some Nigerians always like to be the enemies of their fellow countrymen for no good reason whatsoever. We checked and found out that it was an ingress of water that came through the smaller windows at the upper part of the Chamber building that flooded the floor and not roof leakage.
“The said story or report has no single picture of points of leakages from the roof, which to us, is very unprofessional and unethical. The report is fake as there was no leakage from any point on the roof. We did a good job and stand by it and shall surely be vindicated as more and more rains will still fall in the coming months.”
THE CONCLAVE had reported the flooding of the expansive lobby caused by the leakages from the rooftop during the downpour.
Contrary to the misreading of our report by Mr Adebiyi, we did not accuse the management of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) whose responsibility it is to see to the maintenance of the National Assembly Complex and the facilities therein, of having been compromised.
Our report only referred to “compromised National Assembly roof” as causing the leakages.
THE CONCLAVE Board of Editors resolved that while the local contractor sidestepped aspects of the report that centred on the faulty central cooling system, the company’s suggestive comments about Julius Berger is neither here nor there.
The Board of Editors commended the reporter for providing a robust historical background to the story that explicated the role of Julius Berger in the construction of the architectural masterpiece and the maintenance component of the contract to the construction giant until the intersection when its bill for maintenance was considered too expensive, hence the resort to a local contractor.
Significantly, one of our editors at our meeting on Sunday evening raised some instructive posers on the N38 billion for renovation/maintenance of the NASS complex consummated two to three years ago under the Senate Presidency of Ahmad Lawan as Chairman of the National Assembly.
Read him: “Instead of sealing leaking points in the roof of the White House, which is an older structure when compared with the new massive Senate and House of Representatives Office Extension buildings, could they not have replaced parts of the roof where the leaking points were identified instead of sealing them? N38 billion was quite humongous. Could that not have built a new White House (comprising Senate and House of Reps chambers with adjoining offices)?”
The video clip, evidencing our report of NASS roof leakages, which consequential flooding also affected the Senate chamber and disrupted the work of technicians who were fixing the microphones on the seats of senators (an exercise that has been on for some time since the Natasha Akpoti saga), is provided in this report.
Recall that when Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan saga occurred in the Senate Chamber, she had a free rein talking on top of her voice and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio could not mute her due to the non-functioning microphone muting system.
THE CONCLAVE gathered that some technicians were in the Senate Chamber on Friday, April 25, 2025, installing the system when the downpour came and the leaking incident happened.
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