Let justice prevail

We commend Lagos government’s efforts in ensuring that victims of the Synagogue tragedy did not die in vain

Now that the inculpated have been arraigned, it is a welcome development regarding the September 2014 building-collapse tragedy at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Lagos. The avoidable disaster deserved a thorough probe and those responsible for it deserve proper punishment.

SCOAN trustees, two engineers and their companies, will have to show that they are not culpable at an Ikeja High Court, Lagos. Justice Lawal-Akapo set the stage for the case after dismissing separate applications filed by the defendants through their counsel seeking to stay proceedings of the High Court, pending their appeal at the Court of Appeal.

The Lagos State Government had, late last year, instituted criminal proceedings against the trustees of the church, two engineers, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, and their companies – Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited – for their involvement in the September 12, 2014 collapse of a six-storey guest house belonging to the church, which led to the death of 116 persons.

The 111-count charge brought against the defendants borders on criminal negligence, manslaughter and failure to obtain a building permit.

Justice Lawal-Akapo in his April 19 ruling said: “Section 273 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) states that subject to the constitution, an application for a stay of proceedings in respect of a criminal matter before the High Court should not be entertained before the court. I find no merit in the two applications, they are lacking in merit and substance. This is a clear case of abuse of court processes to the irritation and annoyance of the court.”

This pronouncement effectively ended the delaying tactics by the defendants who had gone to great lengths to frustrate their arraignment by filing various pre-trial applications. It amounted to a preliminary victory for the judicial process and the justice system.

The Lagos State Government’s pursuit of justice in this matter is a commendable example of positive focus. The guest house that collapsed on the church grounds was occupied largely by visiting South Africans who numbered 349 at the time of the disaster. Significantly, South African President Jacob Zuma captured the degree of his country’s loss in a statement. He said: “Not in the recent history of our country have we had this large number of our people die in one incident outside the country.”

It is laudable that the Lagos State Government in particular launched a probe into the incident. Particularly creditable was the role played by the then state governor, Babatunde Fashola, whose presence at the scene helped to establish a proper emergency response by excluding obstructive members of the church who initially blocked official emergency responders and unreasonably viewed the happening as an internal affair.

Curiously, the church leader, Prophet Temitope Joshua, came up with stories that sounded far-fetched in his effort to clarify what happened. He released security camera footage which showed a “strange aircraft” flying over the church a number of times before the building collapsed. He also presented an email suggesting an earlier failed plot to bomb the church by the Islamist guerilla force Boko Haram which has been promoting terroristic activities mainly in the country’s northern region.

This apparent appeal to pity and the discernible objective of painting a picture of victimhood, apart from being unsupported by persuasive proof, critically failed to address the more fundamental and evidential issues surrounding the crumbling of the building. The church will not only need to show that it obtained official approval for the modification of the collapsed guest house; it will also have to provide evidence of compliance with best practices. Reports said the affected building was originally a three-storey structure which was being raised to accommodate three additional floors.

Without being judgmental ahead of the trial, it is noteworthy that the then General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mrs. Abimbola Animashaun, was quoted as saying: “We have investigated and found that they had no approval for the additional structures.”

Although Pastor Joshua’s status is unclear regarding the membership of the church’s board of trustees, he cannot distance himself from the tragedy because as the church leader he is the face of the church. It is intriguing that Pastor Joshua did all he could to thwart the coroner’s inquest that led to the arraignment of the church’s trustees and the engineers involved in the construction of the collapsed building. Pastor Joshua’s posturing while the inquest was ongoing, and his legal effort to stop it, spoke volumes for the obstacles that the Lagos State Government had to overcome to reach this juncture.

It is in the public interest to get to the bottom of this matter. Individual and institutional culpability in the tragedy must be established and penalised according to the law. The government’s bold step towards a resolution must be taken to a logical conclusion. It is important to point out that the international dimension of the tragic incident means that the world is watching and waiting to see whether justice will prevail.