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Make security report public,CDHR begs govt

By Tope Templer Olaiya and Ijeoma Opara
09 February 2015   |   4:50 pm
• South Africa repatriates final batch of victims’ remains IT’S nearly five months since a six-storey guesthouse belonging to the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) came tumbling down and killing a hundred people, mostly worshippers on religious pilgrimage from South Africa.    While the last has not been heard on Lagos State coroner’s inquest…

Synagogue-collapse

• South Africa repatriates final batch of victims’ remains

IT’S nearly five months since a six-storey guesthouse belonging to the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) came tumbling down and killing a hundred people, mostly worshippers on religious pilgrimage from South Africa.

   While the last has not been heard on Lagos State coroner’s inquest into the cause of the building collapse, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR) has, however, called on the state and Federal Government to make public the security report of their findings following the tragic incident, which according to the organisation, the continued concealment of the report would not only be a delay of justice but also an outright denial.

   The calls were made at a solidarity rally organized by the CDHR at the church premises in Ikotun area of Lagos yesterday. Protesters, including foreigners, marched around the church vicinity with placards bearing various posers.

   This is coming after a C130 military aircraft last Friday, landed in Pretoria containing bodies of the remaining victims of the building collapse. 

   “The mortal remains of the outstanding 11 compatriots who perished on September 12, 2014, when the SCOAN guesthouse collapsed in Nigeria, are all back,” Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe, said shortly after the aircraft landed at Waterkloof Air Force Base. 

   The bodies were brought back to the country by a team of military health personnel and forensic pathologists. Some 81 South Africans were killed and 25 others injured in the disaster. 

   Following the disaster, President Jacob Zuma appointed an inter-ministerial committee to oversee the government’s response and to ensure the injured and the deceased were returned to South Africa. 

   The CDHR is also raising questions, which include: “Who owns the plane that allegedly bombed or was hovering around the Synagogue Church building at the time the building collapsed? Who was the pilot of the plane? And why is the Federal Government quiet about the incident? 

   They, therefore, urged the Federal Government to make the report of the presidential committee public with immediate effect.

   Speaking to newsmen while inspecting the site of the collapsed building, National President of CDHR, Mr. Sunny Enenuvwedia, faulted government’s inability to conduct and conclude investigations in almost six months since the incident occurred, adding that the group is bent on demanding justice for the church, the founder, Prophet Temitope Joshua, and victims of the collapse.

   “We are yet to know why the presidential committee set up to look into the circumstances surrounding the incident is yet to release a report. We have come to demand justice and agitate against denial and delay in justice. We are, therefore, giving the authorities an ultimatum of two weeks after which we will proceed to the court. We want those who are culprits not to go unpunished. We regard this as injustice to humanity,” he said.

   The church’s spokesperson, who is a Greece national, Wiseman Harry, said following claims of the church being built with substandard materials, such claims are completely false as he could confirm that the building materials used were of superior quality.

   He, however, noted that the building was demolished that fateful day through a controlled demolition mechanism that was planned and executed as survivors recounted they heard loud explosions. While describing those who have died in the incident as martyrs of the church, he noted that it has not deterred more foreigners from coming into the country and worshipping at the Synagogue.

   “We are not afraid of death, it is even better for us to die in the church knowing that we die for a good cause.”

   After overcoming unforeseen hiccups with identifying the remaining 11 victims, Radebe said that fresh DNA samples taken in December assisted with identifying the remaining victims.

   “It’s been a long wait but our mission has now been accomplished. We will assist as far as we can with the burial process. We can now finally close this chapter and the families can start their healing process.”

   Radebe, however, launched a blistering attack at TB Joshua, labeling him “a guy who makes money through dubious means.” He said he had information Joshua was recruiting people in Nigeria and placing them in wheelchairs to make money. He would not elaborate on that alleged money-making scam.

   “That guy (TB Joshua), I am told, buys people, gives them money and places them in wheelchairs. Those people are making money. It is the money that talks,” said Radebe.

   “If I was one of the family members (of people who died in the tragedy), I would sue that guy. You must listen to him when he preaches; he never quotes a verse from the Bible. He does not even have an education, he learnt English about 15 years ago.”

   Radebe claimed Joshua barred the rescue workers from retrieving the bodies after the collapse. He said Joshua made an attempt to see him while he was in Nigeria, but he refused.

   He disputed Joshua’s claim he could cure people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome  (HIV/AIDS). “If that guy claims to heal AIDS, he should have a Nobel Peace Prize for Medicine,” said Radebe.

   Joshua could not be reached for comment.

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