Being statement by Barr. Olalekan Ojo, legal
counsel to The Synagogue Church Of All Nations
(SCOAN)
The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN)
rejects the verdict of the coroner on the grounds
that it is unreasonable, one-sided and biased.
The church maintains its stand that the incident
was as a result of sabotage. From the verdict
given today, we would like the public to take
note of the following:
– There was no finding that the church engaged
the services of unqualified or incompetent
professionals for the construction of the building.
– There was no finding that the church procured
substandard materials for the construction of the
building, as confirmed by officials of the
Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) who
gave evidence at the coroner and certified the
materials used were all approved and of good
quality.
– There was 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.
– There was no finding that connected the
incident with the lack of a building permit.
– There was no finding that church members
prevented the statutory responders from carrying
out their rescue duties.
– The church disagrees most vehemently with
the finding that the incident was due to
structural failure.
– The church considers 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 civil and
structural engineers as to whether or not the
incident was as 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 such as
controlled demolition or an explosion.
– The verdict did not even refer to the CCTV
footage which showed the 6-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 church also disagrees with the finding that
foundation failure was a remote cause because
that is contrary to the overwhelming expert
evidence of the structural engineers invited to
the coroner who eliminated foundation failure as
a possible cause.
– 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 guilty
when a coroner is not allowed in law to make
any finding of civil or criminal liability against
anybody.
The recommendation for the investigation of The
SCOAN for not possessing the relevant building
permits is unwarranted because it did not take
into account the evidence that the church had
started processing the relevant building approval
before the incident. As a matter of fact, the
amount payable for the processing had already
been assessed by the appropriate government
agencies.
– The recommendation that statutory responders
should be adequately equipped was informed by
the fact that the statutory responders who
carried out rescue operations in this case were
ill-equipped and ill-trained, and that it was the
church that mobilised human and material
resources to ensure a successful rescue
operation.
Finally, the coroner recognised that the conduct
of the investigation of the incident was
compromised by the failure of the appropriate
government agencies to take necessary steps to
secure and preserve the scene of the incident,
which calls into question the integrity and
reliability of the entire investigation.