T.B Joshua finally in court…Who owns the private jet that flew close to Synagogue building? a must answered quetion

LAGOS—The coroner inquest into the collapsed

building at the Synagogue Church of All Nations,

SCOAN, took off yesterday with the Coroner Judge,

Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe requesting the South

Africa government to allow families of the deceased to

donate blood for DNA test towards identifying the

victims, also some disables who claimed to have

benefited from the goodwill of the church founder,

Pastor T. B. Joshua flooded the court with placard

asking who owns the private jet that flew close to the

building?

Mystery Jet that attacked SCOAN TB Joshua’s hostel

Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe said he will facilitate

early release of their corpses for burial after

identification.

Also, the Coroner Judge, disclosed that the court was

not constituted to witchhunt, but to find the cause of

the building collapse and the deaths as well as making

necessary recommendations to prevent future

occurrence in line with the state coroner law.

Magistrate appeals

In his appeal, Magistrate Komolafe explained that the

DNA examination was a major aspect of the inquest,

noting that it would be difficult for the pathologists to

carry out their work if the deceased relatives were not

available to identify their deceased relations.

Majority of the victims recovered from the debris of

the building collapse were South Africans.

Komolafe said: “I sympathize with the families of the

victims as well as South Africa government, but I want

to seize this opportunity to state the importance of the

DNA to this inquest.

“Relatives of victims should donate blood to enable the

pathologists identify the bodies. The medical team and

pathologists are working because the court has directed

them to carry out the activities and report back.

“It is important for the South African embassy to

ensure that relatives of the victims come forward for

the pathologist to get the needed samples to compare

with the bodies.

“Those corpses have to be properly identified and when

that is done and the process completed, the bodies will

be released to the South African government and they

can take them home if they so wish.

“We have to work together. We should not allow

anything to cause misunderstanding between Nigeria

and South Africa because we are one, at least we are

blacks. Please, let us work together to make this

process a success.”

Church assures on support

While the church represented by Prince Lateef

Komolafe also promised an absolute support to the

Coroner, the court urged necessary parties in the

proceedings to cooperate with the court so as to come

out with adequate information and recommendations.

Considering the procedure to be adopted to enhance

smooth and speedy result, Magistrate Komolafe agreed

with counsels representing the parties by allowing

them to file their testimonies through affidavit

deposition as well as allowing oral evidence from

witnesses.

He stated that the court was not going to be rigid in the

application of the rules of evidence and other court

rules except where it becomes extremely necessary.

However, he warned that he will not spare any witness

who disregard a court summon by compelling his

appearance.

Counsel to the church, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and

the state represented by Mr. Gbolahan Adeniran and

the State Police Command, represented by Mr. Chukwu

Agwu had had a tough time agreeing on when to visit

the scene of the incident.

Fagbemi had requested the court to grant his client

more time to enable them upload necessary documents,

evidences at the court registryas well as arranged their

witnesses, who he said will include some foreigners .

While the Officer in Charge of Legal Matters, Lagos

State Police Command, Agwu, aligned himself with the

request of Fagbemi, the state Counsel opposed the

request on the ground that the church supposed to

have gathered its witnesses considering when the time

when the incident happened.

The police lawyer submitted that he got the summon to

appear before the court as at close of business last

Friday, arguing he would need time to get documents

ready and prepare some deputy commissioners of

police for the inquest.

The arguments compelled the court to stand down the

case for 15minutes to enable counsels agreeing on a

date for the next sitting of the court and the time to

visit the locus (site of incident).

Moment after the resumption, the court finally fixed

Thursday for visit to the “locus”(site of the collapsed

building).

The Coroner Judge, equally appealed to all those who

failed to appear at the inaugural sitting to appear

before the court at the next adjournment.

He listed them to include the National Emergency

Management Authority(NEMA), Nigerian Security and

Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC), Office of the Lagos State

Surveyor General and Lagos State Emergency

Management Authority(LASEMA) among others.

He directed all counsels to upload all the documents

and evidences they intend to file and for responses to

be made before the next adjourned date, Thursday

October 16, when the court will visit the church while

fixed October 24 to begin the proceeding proper.

Beside the proceedings, some disables who claimed to

have benefited from the goodwill of the church

founder, Pastor T. B. Joshua flooded the court with

placard asking for justice to be done in the case.

Some of them who came on wheel chairs, were

carrying placards with various inscriptions such as:

“Who is the owner of the private jet that flew close to

the building; CCTV footage can’t tell lies. Please

investigate; Tell us the truth: Structural defect or a

controlled blast;

“Why targeting foreigners; It is control demolition, not

structural failure; Tell us the truth, what collapsed the

building; Awareness matters, don’t give way to

terrorists.”

Posted by Donatus Joshua at 01:49