A Lagos Coroner investigating the building collapse at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) yesterday fixed November 5 for Prophet Temitope B. Joshua and the contractor of the building to testify.
Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe fixed the date despite efforts by the church’s counsel, Jude Nnadi (SAN), to draw its attention to the fact that Joshua has no material evidence to give.
Nnadi had explained to the court that the church may not field Prophet Joshua because he was not an eyewitness, but Komolafe insisted that the prophet must appear as summoned for the purpose of the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) and the state Fire Service yesterday testified before the coroner.
An operational officer of the fire service, Olayimika Adebayo, while testifying, countered the church’s position that the building collapsed as a result of implosion.
He said there was no sign of fire on the first day of the disaster, adding that an outbreak only occurred on the fourth day, September 15, which was caused by the shifting and moving of earth machines, iron rods and other free burning materials.
Olayimika said the Alausa Control Room was called on September 12 at about 1:17pm by one Eze who reported the collapse.
He disclosed that an estimated figure of 211 persons were in the building.
“The building that collapsed was a five-storey building undergoing re-construction. Based on the number of victims rescued and recovered, there was an estimated 211 occupants. The building at the time was used as a guest house,” he said.
According to Olayimika, a 10,000 capacity fire truck marked LA 148A40 was dispatched to the site upon the alert with four fire men, which got to the site at 1:32pm.
“When we got to the main entrance of the SCOAN, the fire team was prevented from gaining access to the scene of the collapse. After five minutes of argument with persons who introduced themselves as church security officers, we were eventually allowed to approach the gate to the scene.
“It took another 15 minutes to enter the site. However, we were not allowed to participate in the rescue operation until the morning of the following day.
“I observed that at the site, members of the church had commenced rescue operations.
“Since we were denied the opportunity of performing our statutory functions, we remained at the scene of the collapse and I was able to carry out a 360 degree check which involved assessing the scene situation, the extent of damage and the physical cause of the collapse.
“I observed that there was no sign of fire or smoke, and I did not perceive any corrosive odour.
“It took much persuasion and intervention of other emergency responders, even after identifying ourselves before we were allowed to participate in the rescue operation.
“During the process of the recovery operations, 131 persons were rescued alive with various degrees of injuries, while about 80 bodies were recovered suspected dead and taken over by the ambulance provided by SCOAN.
“All the bodies recovered were whole, not dis-membered or burnt. Also, there were no scattered bricks.
“The floors and pillars were also not shattered, rather the floors of the building had collapsed on top of each other. The collapsed building did noot depict any sign of explosion or implosion,” said Olayimika.
Earlier, the witness from LASTMA, Wasiu Oladiti, said after getting the information about the collapse from a LASTMA officer in Ikotun, he contacted Lagos Traffic Radio to relay alternative routes to motorist coming to Ikotun from Isolo to take other routes.
Speaking with journalists outside the courtroom, the South African Ambassador, Lulu Mnguni, said DNA samples had been collected from both the deceased and their relatives.
He said the samples are currently in a South African laboratory in Cape Town, adding that the process of identification was ongoing.
...culled from THE NATION
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