Synagogue: Faulty Equipment Stalls Coroner proceeding

Synagogue: Faulty Equipment Stalls Coroner proceeding

The Coroner conducting an inquest into the cause of the collapse of a building belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) was yesterday forced to adjourned it proceedings mid way into its sitting due to faulty recording equipment.

The coroner had schedule to hear the testimony of the founder of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, the contractor that built the failed structure, Standard Organisation of Nigeria and the Lagos State Ministry of Works.

The inquest presided over by Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe had to order that the matter be adjourned till today (Friday) to enable the court get the attention of the engineer in charge of the recording equipment.

However, before the incidence, a Deputy Director with Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Bede Obayi had started his testimony. 

Obayi, who is an expert in Metallurgical and Material
Engineering, tendered to the coroner results of three separate tests carried out on samples of the materials used in the collapsed building.

According to the witness immediately his team
received the news of the building collapse, they visited the site and collected relevant samples including iron rod and the broken bricks.

He claimed that their investigations traced the iron rods used as the reinforcement timbers of the failed building to four different companies.

He also stated that after collecting the samples, the SON submitted them to three different laboratories, in order to ensure the accuracy of the results.

According to Obayi, who is also Head, Inspectorate and Compliance Unit of SON, one sample was submitted to a neutral steel rolling company, which was not one of the four implicated companies; another set of samples were also sent to the four companies implicated and a third sample was submitted for analysis at the SON laboratory.

He maintained that the source of the samples were not disclosed to the laboratories in order to prevent undue influence on the outcome of the tests.

He said “We have got three results but they are not enough to draw a definite conclusion; it is only the contractor and the owner of the building that will be able to give us the history of the construction and that is why we felt their own imputs are very germane,” Obayi said.

Also during yesterday sitting, Head of Homicide department, State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Olushola Agoyi, who started given evidence on Wednesday concluded his testimony.

He informed the Coroner, that investigations into the cause of the collapsed guest house was yet to be concluded.

According to him, "I was not physically present when the guest house collapsed, and i can confirm that our investigation into the incident is inconclusive.

"We cannot Confirm the activities of the aircraft alleged to be hovering over the guest house before the incident, until we get input from the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA)," he said.