Synagogue: NEMA, LASEMA not prevented from rescue operations – Witness

Synagogue: NEMA, LASEMA not prevented from rescue operations – Witness

The Lagos coroner heard on Tuesday that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) were given unfettered access to carry out rescue operations during the September 12 building collapse at the Synagogue Church of All Nations.
Synagogue’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), Sunday Okogie, made this known at the resumed sitting of the coroner inquest into the incident.
Okogie told the coroner court presided by Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe that no member of the church stopped or prevented NEMA and LASEMA officials from rescuing people trapped under the collapsed guest house.
The CSO, who submitted the unedited Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footages of the incident from September 12 to September 16 told the court that the recordings contradicted the claims of the agencies that members of the church were hostile and prevented them from accessing the collapsed building site.
Okogie pointed out that both agencies arrived at the church about an hour after the building collapsed and gained access to the scene in less than a minute.
“My Lord, on the first day of the incident, as you can see, nobody prevented them from entering into the compound. But as you can see from the video, LASEMA came with only one bus and no heavy duty equipment as they claimed before this court.
“The same thing happened with NEMA. They came ill-equipped for the job of digging out those who were trapped under the rubbles.”
Okogie further told the court that NEMA and LASEMA officials left the church at about 05:45pm, when several persons were still trapped.