Encomium
THE hope of the embattled Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) owned by Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua to restrain the court from trying the construction engineers of the collapsed six-storey building that sent about 116 people to the great beyond on September 12, 2014, has been dashed, therefore, putting the church in fresh dilemma.
The development came on the heels of the judgement by the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos which, on Monday, November 9, 2015, dismissed the fundamental rights enforcement suits filed by the engineers who were in charge of the collapsed structure.
ENCOMIUM Weekly was informed by an impeccable source that the court action has since been giving the controversial man of God sleepless nights while the church counsels are also said to be warming up for the defence of the case which comes up soon.
“It’s not a pleasant moment for Prophet T. B. Joshua and Synagogue Church as a whole. The man of God is not particularly happy about the development concerning the case of the collapsed church’s guest house of September 12, 2014. He’s really worried about the way Lagos State is handling the matter as if what happened was deliberate.
“Now, I learnt the legal team of the church is preparing for the defence of the engineers who built the house. Their trial is like an indictment on the church as a whole. But all I know is that they will be vindicated at the end of the day as far as God liveth.
“The fact that the court ordered their trial doesn’t mean they will be convicted. Even the families of the victims have forgotten the whole incident. They knew it couldn’t have been deliberate. So, why is the problem now home based?”
ENCOMIUM Weekly’s efforts to seek SCOAN’s reaction to the development on Saturday, November 14, via one of its spokesperson, Mr. Patrick couldn’t yield the desired result as he declined comment on the issue. “I can’t comment on that now,” he stated.
Following the outcome of Coroner’s inquest into the September 12, 2014 tragedy, the engineer, Mr. Oladele Ogundeyi and Mr. Akinbela Fatiregun had gone before Justice Ibrahim Buba, seeking an order restraining the police from inviting, arresting or prosecuting them over the victims’ death. They had filed their suit to challenge the Coroner’s report that attributed the building collapse to structural defect and recommended the engineers for proper investigation and prosecution for criminal negligence.
But Buba, in his ruling on Monday, November 9, 2015, on the defendants’ preliminary objection reportedly said the engineers had not made out a case of infringement on their fundamental rights even on the merit of the application; hence the dismissal of their suits.
