adminEmily Mbewe Chronicle Reporter
TB Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has rejected the verdict of the Lagos Coroner’s courts blaming the church for the collapse of its building, which killed 116 people last year.
The coroner said the mega church run by popular Nigerian preacher TB Joshua was criminally negligent and should be prosecuted for the incident that occurred on September 12, 2014.
While a majority of the people who died were South Africans, three were Zimbabweans; Jane Sibanda, 37, from Entumbane, Bulawayo, who lived in South Africa, Greenwich Ndanga from Mashonaland West and Catherine Ndlovu from Mpopoma in Bulawayo.
On Wednesday, Oyekate Komolafe, the coroner, ruled: “The church must be investigated and prosecuted for not obtaining the relevant approval before embarking on the construction of the building.”
“The church was culpable because of criminal negligence resulting in the death of the victims.”
In a statement yesterday, Barr Olalekan Ojo, legal counsel to the SCOAN, rejected the verdict saying, “it’s unreasonable, one sided and biased.”
The church insists the incident was engineered by saboteurs. Ojo said there was no finding that the church engaged the services of unqualified or incompetent professionals for the construction of the building.
The lawyer said the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) gave evidence at the coroner and certified the materials used were all approved and of good quality.
“There was no evidence that the church had started processing the relevant building approval before the incident, which had been approved and assessed for payment by the appropriate government bodies,” said Ojo.
“The church disagrees most vehemently with the finding that the incident was due to structural failure,” he added.
The church, Ojo said, considered it strange that the coroner did not refer in its verdict to the evidence of the COREN-registered structural engineer and contractor used by the church nor did it evaluate the conflicting evidence given by the civil and structural engineers as to whether or not the incident was a result of structural failure.
“It was a one sided verdict which left many issues unaddressed and questions unanswered. The church disagrees with the findings concerning the aircraft that hovered over the six-storey building because there was evidence before the court that the incident could have been brought about by external forces like controlled demolition or an explosion,” he said.
Ojo said the coroner’s verdict did not refer to the CCTV footage which showed the six-storey building falling in less than 4 seconds — a manner consistent with controlled or externally induced demolition nor did it refer to the interim report and investigation by the Nigerian police force which pointed to sabotage by external forces.
“The recommendation for the investigation and prosecution of the contractors and structural engineers used by the church for criminal negligence is premature because it gives the impression the coroner has found them not guilty when a coroner is not allowed in law to make any finding of civil liability against anybody,” he said.
Ojo said an investigation of the SCOAN for not processing the relevant building permits is unwarranted because it did not take into account evidence that the church had started processing the relevant building approval before the incident.
The amount of material for the processing had also already been assessed by the appropriate government agencies.
Ojo said: “The statutory responders who carried out rescue operations in this case were ill-equipped and ill-trained, and it was the church that mobilised human and material resources to ensure a successful rescue operation.”
He said failure by the appropriate government agencies to take necessary steps to secure and preserve the scene of the incident, calls into question the integrity and reliability of the entire investigation.
TB Joshua refused to testify at the inquest, challenging the jurisdiction of the coroner to summon him.
Meanwhile, thousands of SCOAN followers have taken to the church’s Facebook page, attacking the coroner’s verdict.
A majority said the coroner’s report was inspired by the devil and some said the Nigerian government was behind the building’s collapse.
“God is with us, we don’t believe the coroner’s report, which is totally biased, one sided and grossly influenced by Satan, himself the mother of lies,” wrote a congregant.
Another wrote, “The judge, Lagos government and all involved in this propaganda should be ready to face the judgement of God.”
Some people were against the church, saying TB Joshua was a false prophet.
“This guy is supposed to be a prophet? How come he did not prophesy the disaster? Maybe that should be spelt profit?” read one comment.
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