tomorrow be arraigned before a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja over
the collapse of a six-story building in the church on 12 September,
2014, which led to the death of 116 persons.
Senior Pastor of the church, Prophet T.B Joshua is one of the
trustees. The trustees will be arraigned before Justice Lawal Akapo
alongside the engineers that constructed the collapsed building.
A statement by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs of the Lagos State
Ministry of Justice, Bola Akingbade confirmed the scheduled
arraignment.
Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos had dismissed
the fundamental human rights enforcement suits filed by the engineers
who constructed the collapsed six-story building to stop their planned
trial.
The engineers; Mr. Oladele Ogundeji and Mr. Akinbela Fatiregun, had
filed two separate suits before Justice Buba seeking an order
restraining the police from inviting, arresting or prosecuting them
over the victims' death.
The Lagos State Government, had set up a Coroner Inquest to unravel
what went wrong, and via a verdict delivered on August 7, 2015 by
Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, the Coroner had indicted the engineers
and recommended them for investigation and prosecution for criminal
negligence.
The engineers had filed the suits following the Coroner's verdict,
which attributed the building collapse to structural defect.
The engineers had specifically rejected the Coroner's verdict,
describing it as "unreasonable, one-sided and biased."
But Justice Buba, in his ruling on the defendants' preliminary
objection, held that the engineers "had not made out a case of
infringement on their fundamental rights even on the merit of the
application," and dismissed their applications.
The judge, who noted that the Coroner Law was an enactment of the
Lagos State House of Assembly, which is constitutionally empowered to
make laws in the state, said "the Federal High Court could not dabble
into the affairs of the state and start dishing out injunctive
orders."
On the prayer by the engineers asking for an order of perpetual
injunction restraining the Lagos State Attorney General or any officer
under his authority from initiating or commencing criminal proceedings
against them based on the verdict of the Coroner, Justice Buba held
that such request was ungrantable in the circumstance of the case
under review.
The judge added: "The Coroner's inquest is not a court of law; it does
not find anybody guilty, it only recommends. The Federal High Court
cannot tamper with the Coroner Law, which is a Constitutional
enactment of the Lagos State House of Assembly."
Shortly after the verdict, the State Government had assured that the
affected persons would be swiftly charge to court. The assurance was
contained in a statement issued by the Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice in the State, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem.
-PMNews
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